The Master
by Moodiness97
Summary: One huge crossover with The Last Airbender, Frozen, and many, many other stories, but the characters from these first two will be the main focus. Elsa and Zuko are chosen by an omnipotent being known only as the Master to participate in a game for the fate of their worlds. They both understand the gravity of the situation, but that doesn't mean they can understand each other.
1. Prologue & Chapter 1

Prologue

He always hated playing the game. He hated using people as pawns, especially, but the rest was almost as abominable.

But it was his purpose, and he had been challenged. When challenged, it was against his nature to refuse—against his very being. So he had accepted, like he had every time for longer than memory itself.

Setting the pieces out on the board took only a few moments, but choosing who would fill those pieces required more careful thought. He placed the eight pawns in the appropriate spaces, thinking of the lives that they would represent. Those same lives would probably be ended soon, as the pawns would be cast from the table.

He frowned, his emotions so strong that they manifested in physical discomfort.

He _hated_ the game; in fact, "hate" was not a strong enough word for what he felt. But he played it every time.

Shuffling to the Pool of Eternity, he called his servant to him. The Servant bowed and approached him, hands folded. The Master stared at the pool, knowing that every choice he made represented pain, perhaps even death.

In the case of the eight pawns, death was the more likely.

He looked into the pool and found the sixteen Realities. From each of the eight weakest, he chose a warrior whose bravery and selflessness could not doubted. These were men who wouldn't hesitate to go to their deaths to protect what good there was in the world. In all likelihood, that was what they were going to have to do.

The warriors he found were straightforward and simple selections—easy. Nothing about his choices should have been difficult.

But he felt so much pain.

The Master indicated each of the pawns he desired.

The Servant took note.

The rooks, bishops, and knights were easier to collect, despite requiring more meditating and consideration. These were the pieces that he could afford to focus on and protect during the game. But even then, the Master knew that these, too, were expendable.

It filled him with great sadness.

He gestured to his selections tiredly.

The Servant took note.

Finally, the Master had none left but the king and queen. They were his most valuable pieces, and choosing them pained him the least. They were the ones that he would give anything to keep alive, and when he was focused on a task, nothing could stop him. These two would survive, but whether or not they escaped the horrors and scars all depended on how well the Master used them.

He despised using people, but he no choice. He had been challenged, and he had to play the game. It was that simple.

He pointed to the last two people who would function as his king and queen. Then he turned away, unhappy and exhausted.

The Servant took note of the two selections before stepping into the pool and disappearing. He had entered the sixteen realities.

The Master sat back at the board, where he had placed each remaining piece carefully in its square. He hoped the Servant would take his time and delay. Each of the Realities had to be visited, and each piece had to be convinced or forced to accept the role they had been given.

Then, the game would begin.

Chapter One

The castle was quiet and dark. Elsa had thrown her bedroom windows open, letting in the freezing winter air she preferred. A few snowflakes had drifted in as well, and as she lay awake in her bed, she saw them glowing softly with the moonlight on her floor and window sill.

She normally slept well, so she didn't understand why sleep eluded her tonight. She had a bad feeling, like something was about to happen. Refusing to lie in bed doing nothing, she stuck her feet into some slippers and walked out of the room.

It was still strange to be able to leave her room so freely. She was so used to being trapped inside, unable to leave, and afraid to do so even if she could. The bedroom she used now wasn't the same room as the one that had served as her prison; she now slept in the royal suite. But it was the same castle.

She had considered building her own castle next to this one. It would have been easy, but what the people in her kingdom needed now was reassurance that their sorceress queen didn't intend to supplant every good and noble tradition. So she had stayed in this castle. And miraculously, in the few months since she had become queen and opened herself up to the world, she had come to like it here. Perhaps it was just the people whom she saw every day. After spending so many years alone, people were like a novelty to her. She loved just watching them; their reactions, their habits, their body language. She had realized that you could learn so much about a person if you just paid attention.

She found herself in the portrait gallery, walking by the paintings of her ancestors, kings and queens of Arendelle. Her eyes lifted and she saw the picture of her parents. It had spent fourteen years covered in a black veil, which wasn't removed until the night of her coronation. It was a symbol that her grief for them was supposed to be over, and that a new reign—a new era—had begun. But it hadn't been quite that simple.

The possibility still prodded her sometimes that she might be angry at her parents. They were the ones who caused her to believe that she was a monster, after all. She had tried to look inside herself and see her deepest feelings, but she found her own heart harder to read than those of other people. She knew she loved them, and for now, that was enough.

The portraits and the room made her uncomfortable, and she left quickly. The faces of the dead disappeared as she closed the door and blackness swallowed them. In a sudden break of control, she froze the handle shut. That room brought back too many bad memories, and the reason she had struggled so long to control her powers floated at the front of her mind.

But she couldn't be afraid of that room; fear was the reason she had almost killed her sister and frozen all of Arendelle. She wasn't allowed to be afraid of anything anymore.

Not knowing whether or not she would be able to unfreeze the door handle, she decided not to try. She was afraid to go into the room, and her powers didn't generally work when she was afraid. She wrenched them open, and the ice cracked loudly, some of it falling to the wooden floor.

Far away at the other side of the room, her parents stared at her.

_No more fear_, she thought, starting forward. Every time she encountered fear, she had to face it. She _had_ to.

The expressionless faces of her parents seemed to loom over her as she drew near them. She loved them, yes, but they had stifled her and taught her to fear herself. And it was all because they had been afraid of her. Fear was unacceptable.

They had punished her for their weakness! How could they? They had because they were cowards!

She pulled her hand back, feeling the storm inside her surge down her arm and manifest in the freezing cold around her. Her hand shot out at her parents, and from it, a blast of ice and snow. She saw it hurtle at the faces in the portrait, but it did not make her feel better.

Her hand dropped, and so did the blast of frozen magic.

To be a better ruler than her parents, she couldn't just be fearless; she also had to have restraint.

She turned and left the room, shutting the doors lightly behind her.

Apparently, of the many questions that swirled inside her, one had been answered. She was most definitely angry at her parents.

She crossed the hall to a window and looked up at the night sky. The northern lights danced across the sky, visible through breaks in the clouds overhead. The snow fell calmly, with little wind too disturb it.

It was truly a quiet night.

"Elsa?"

The queen jumped, but then she recognized the voice and turned smoothly. Her sister, Anna, was at the end of the hall, walking toward her.

"I thought I heard someone out here."

Elsa smiled serenely and said, "What are you still doing awake?"

Anna leaned against the wall next to the queen. "The sky's awake, so I couldn't sleep."

The words startled Elsa, but just for a moment. Sometimes, Anna would say things that would make it sound like her memory was returning, but then the moment would pass, and she would be exactly the same. Elsa had considered telling her, but there was so much. The greatest problem was that Anna still believed that Elsa had shut herself up, and not their parents. The queen didn't want to ruin her sister's memory of her only other family. So Elsa had never said anything.

Anna continued. "So what were you doing out here?"

Sighing, the queen answered, "Just walking. I couldn't sleep either."

Anna laughed, "Maybe it runs in the family. Freezing things, light hair, and insomnia."

Before Elsa could reply, a bright light filled the roomed. Anna gasped. Ella pulled her close with one hand, and with the other created a protective wall of ice, several feet thick and impossible to see through.

Elsa placed her hand on the ice mass, and where she touched became perfectly smooth, like glass. Looking through it, she saw that the light on the other side was coming from a large circle, suspended just above the ground. Out of the circle stepped a man in a robe, his hand folded in front of him.

"Stay away from us!" Elsa yelled. "We do not fear you!"

"There is no need to fear me," the man said calmly. He spoke low, but his voice filled the space all around her like thunder from nearby lightning.

"Who are you, and why have you intruded into my castle?" the queen demanded.

Anna whispered into her ear, "Elsa, I don't think that you should make him angry."

But the queen was focused on the invader.

He held up his hands. "I am the Servant. I have been sent her to select you, Elsa, Queen of Arendelle."

"Who sent you?"

"The Master."

"Who?" Elsa hissed, frustrated with the Servant's vagueness.

"The Master," he repeated in exactly the same way. "He has chosen you to be his queen."

"What?" Elsa exclaimed. This man was preposterous! "I am not going to become the queen of some stranger who thinks he can marry me without—you are a fool if you think…"

"I'm sorry," the Servant rumbled. "Apparently, I was unclear."

_Obviously_. Elsa wanted to scream.

The Servant tried again to explain. "You have been chosen as a piece in the Master's game." He waved his hands, and pictures made of light appeared in the space above him. "You see," he said, as the pictures changed. They showed a chess board, then something that looked like a chessboard, then a completely different kind of board all together. "You have heard of the game of chess? Each of the sixteen Realities has variant of that game. It is known by many names. But in each, the strategy remains the same: overpower your opponent's forces using the different strengths of your various pieces."

The pictures above the servant changed again. Elsa couldn't tell what it was at first. It looked like sixteen circles floating in and out of each other.

"The sixteen Realities," the Servant continued, "all have this same game because it is a reflection of the Master's game."

"Who is the Master?" Elsa asked for the second time. "Tell me, or I'll freeze you where you stand."

"You would not be able to do that," the Servant stated calmly. "However, as it will apparently be integral to your cooperation, I will tell you what you want to know. The one I refer to as the Master is the protector of all sixteen Realities. He has recently been challenged by a dark being, but there can never be war within the Master's realm. All conflict is decided by struggles within the sixteen Realities. Now, the Master has chosen you to be the queen in this conflict. You are honor-bound to except. The fate of your reality—the fate of all sixteen—hangs in the balance."

Elsa's hands fell to her side, and she let her wall of ice dissipate. She somehow trusted him now, which she knew was stupid. But there was something about the way he talked that showed his undying belief in his words. And if someone as obviously powerful as he was just _the Servant_, who was Elsa to contradict the Master?

She suddenly felt very small. "Why me?" she asked.

"The queen must be of royal standing, or its equivalent. It helps that you in particular are generally benevolent and very powerful."

She gulped. Her power was dwarfed in comparison to that of the Servant. She hoped he hadn't overestimated her. "I'll come," she said suddenly, making up her mind. "Just give me a moment."

Turned to her sister, she saw that Anna was pale and panicky. "What? What are you doing? Elsa, you can't…"

She stopped, and dropped her head.

"I have to go, Anna. You must see that," Elsa insisted.

The princess hesitated, and then nodded. "I do."

"You'll obviously be in charge while I'm gone. Tell them… tell them that I've caught a chill… no, wait. Never mind. Think of something. I'll try not to be gone too long."

Anna looked up at her, obviously afraid. It was amazing that the trait that made Elsa hate her parents also made her want to wrap Anna in a blanket and tuck her in bed. Fear was just different for some people. In Anna's case, her panic was tolerable because it didn't incapacitate her.

They embraced tightly, but they both knew that the Servant was waiting.

Elsa pulled herself out of Anna's arms. "I love you," she said tenderly.

Her sister smiled, wiping a tear off her cheek.

The queen turned and looked at the Servant. He stood to one side of the circle of light, waiting for her to proceed.

"Where are we going?" Elsa asked as she approached the hole. She couldn't see anything inside it.

"To the final Reality that I must visit," the Servant replied.

The light seemed to draw Elsa in, and before she knew it, she was plummeting through the hole, not exactly falling, but definitely not staying still. Before she knew it, a dark spot appeared in the light in front of her and grew bigger. She barely had time to see it before she fell through it into a room.

She nearly collapsed onto the floor but managed to regain her balance at the last second. Standing straight, she turned to see the Servant appear through the circle.

"Why did you bring me here?" the queen asked.

"It is customary for each piece in the game to meet its partner before all the other pieces. Your own partner is here, in this palace." Without hesitating, the Servant strode forward, heading toward some massive, obviously important doors.

Elsa didn't like the look of this place. All down the hallway, red tapestries hung on the wall with emblems of flame embroidered on them. A plethora of torches cast strange shadows on the symbols, and the tapestries almost looked like they were on fire. And worst of all, the air was hot and thick, despite that they were indoors.

The Servant was already far ahead of her, and she hurried after him. The heavy moisture in the air made her clothes stick to her skin, and she realized that she was still wearing a light nightgown. She quickly formed her normal dress, not having the time to think of anything creatively different to add. She was sure her hair was a terrible, matted sight, but it was one of the things she didn't really want to freeze off remake with ice.

Her guide reached the doors and pushed them open. A bright light spilled into the hallway, but nothing like the glow the Servant was capable of generating. The light now was a hot one, which made Elsa glad she was wearing a refreshing dress made of ice.

They were in a throne room. Pillars lined the sides of the room, drawing one's gaze to the figure at the far end. It was on an elevated platform and sat in a huge, gold plated chair. The figure was flanked by two women on either side, standing tall and rigid.

The doors shut behind Elsa, and she turned and saw two more women behind her, closing them in. They wore green dresses that seemed to be made of thick fabric, but the most interesting thing about the women was their makeup. They had covered their faces in white powder, and had accentuated the eyelids with red paint. Turning back to the Servant, Elsa hoped that he knew what he was doing.

"Who are you and what are you doing here?" the figure on the throne asked. To the queen's surprise, it was the voice of a young man. The Servant began walking forward, explaining as he went. Elsa followed closely behind, trying to discreetly keep track of where the women in green were. They stayed about twenty feet away, but Elsa could feel the tension in the air. It was obvious to her, and she didn't even really know what was going on.

The Servant tried to explain to the man on the throne what was happening but was getting nowhere. The king had listened for a few moments, but then abruptly cut the Servant off. "You have trespassed in the palace of the Firelord. Guards, take this lunatic into custody."

The women in green, apparently the king's guards, stepped forward, putting their hands on some sort of weapon at their belts. Elsa gasped out, "Wait," but she needn't have bothered. The Servant raised his hands, and a bright light filled the room, emanating from the glowing orbs above his head. The pictures the orbs showed coincided perfectly with his words, and once again, Elsa felt insignificant and small.

The Servant spoke in a perfectly normal tone, yet his voice overpowered everyone in the room. It seemed to weigh enough to shake the pillars. "You have been chosen by the Master to participate in a war for the fate of the sixteen Realities. You cannot refuse. To do so would be to doom your planet to destruction at the hands of the Master's opponent." He continued explaining the situation in great depth, much more depth than Elsa had required.

She felt a bit foolish, now. She had come with this strange man—or being—without knowing half of what she needed to. But it had felt necessary. It had been obvious to her what she had needed to do. She didn't know whether that was the result of intuition, insight, or outright stupidity.

As she listened to the Servant, the gravity of the situation, which she had already felt, became revealed for her to see. Apparently, there were sixteen separate universes. The Master oversaw all sixteen, and he kept balance between them. However, every few millennia, dark beings would challenge the Master's authority. This was one of those times.

The Master would choose sixteen individuals to battle those whom the dark beings chose. The ultimate goal, of course, was to destroy the other's forces through manipulation of each individual's strengths.

The Servant had already collected the fourteen other warriors, and now Elsa and this king were the only two left.

When the Servant finished, having not only provided lots of information but also nearly blinding everyone with the radiance of his display, the king was quiet. When Elsa's eyes could finally see again, she realized that his face was buried in his hands. He seemed to be struggling. She supposed this was understandable.

After a painfully long silence, the king finally groaned and looked up.

Elsa tried not to react, but she felt her eyes widen involuntarily when they saw the huge scar that disfigure the left side of the king's face. She was also taken aback by this king's youth. He had to be younger than she was. The king's right half of his face was handsome and youthful, but Elsa was too distracted by the scar to really notice it. Afraid she might be caught looking at it, she forced herself to stare at the unblemished half.

"Try to understand," the king said, "This is… a lot to take in."

The Servant merely nodded.

The king stood. "I can't believe I'm saying this, but I see that I have to go with you."

Immediately, one of his guards grabbed his arm. "Zuko, are you sure you know what you're doing?"

Instead of answering her, the king turned to the woman on his other side. "Ty Lee," he said, "Go wake up my mother and bring her here. She must be told what's happening and why I'm leaving." As the guard named Ty Lee hurried past Elsa and the Servant, the king turned back to the first one. "Suki," he said, "I have no idea what I'm doing. But I… I somehow know that it's what I have to do."

For the first time, Elsa considered the possibility that the Servant was influencing their decisions with some sort of dark magic, making them think that they were choosing independently. It was too late, however, for her to entertain thoughts like that. If she ever wanted to go home, she would have to do what the Servant—or rather, the Master—wanted.

Suki turned away. "I understand what you mean," she said. "I saw everything you did. But I still don't like it."

The king—"Zuko", Elsa had heard Suki call him—nodded. Then he turned, and for the first time seemed to notice Elsa standing there. He eyed her with visible suspicion, but since she was with the Servant, he didn't question it. Instead, he simply frowned and ignored her.

Elsa couldn't decide if she appreciated this or not.

The Servant was standing still, patiently waiting for the king's mother to return. Elsa wondered if her guide would have been as willing to give her this much time, had she been more hesitant. She couldn't really blame Zuko; trying to explain her own willingness to join the Servant was impossible. The same effect seemed to have come over the king; he only hesitated because he simply had things that needed doing before he disappeared.

Elsa swallowed. Had she left Anna too quickly? The answer in her mind was quiet, irksome, "Yes."

Suki started talking to Zuko again, but more softly, so that Elsa couldn't make out what she was saying. Elsa refused the urge to try, determined not to be an eavesdropper. But it was difficult, because they began to have a very animated conversation, staying in whispers the whole time.

Finally, Ty Lee came back in, followed by someone Elsa assumed to be Zuko's mother.

"What is this?" she said in a surprisingly subdued tone.

The Servant turned to her, apparently ready to explain in his blunt fashion. Zuko, apparently, thought better of this idea, because he pushed past the Servant and to meet his mother in the middle of the room. As he passed Elsa, she could hear the swish of his long, crimson robes against the ground. There was another whispered conversation, and a lot of gasping on the queen mother's part.

"No," she said finally, loudly enough for everyone in the room to hear. "This is just… Zuko, what are you thinking?"

"You didn't see the things he showed us," the king said, quietly. "I have to go. The empire will do fine with you leading it, at least until Uncle gets here. Hopefully, I'll be back before he is. Though I'm not sure…" He trailed off, glancing at the Servant questioningly.

The queen mother looked extremely tormented, but after a moment, she gave Zuko a sad little smile. "You always get stubborn the moment you decide you are right."

Elsa couldn't see it, but she could imagine the frown Zuko was giving his mother.

The whispering recommenced.

At one point, the queen mother looked up and gave Elsa a dark look, but after a moment, the woman's eyes softened and she turned back to Zuko. Finally, their conversation seemed to draw to a close, and the mother embraced her son tightly. After they finally broke apart, Zuko turned around to face the Servant.

"I'm ready," he said with confidence and control.

"Wait!"

Elsa almost sighed in exasperation as Suki stepped forward. How had the Servant had the patience to do this fourteen other times? Zuko's guard stopped in front of him and crossed her arms. "You're not going anywhere without me. You're paying me to protect you, you know."

The Servant spoke immediately. "I'm afraid that is not possible. Only one life is allowed to represent each piece in the Master's war."

"I'm not going to let him go unless I can go too and keep an eye on him!" Suki almost shouted. "He's bound to get himself killed without me around!"

"Suki," Zuko interjected, but before he could continue, she cut him off.

"Don't," she insisted.

They locked eyes for a second, and then he yielded.

She turned back to the Servant. "There must be a way for me to go with him."

Surprisingly, the Servant nodded. "There is one way, but it is very dangerous."

Suki, however, had a look of determination on her face that said quite clearly she would—and could—do anything. "Tell me. I am going to go with him if you take him."

The Servant, who had remained fairly emotionless until this point, now spoke with slight apprehension. "If you are to go with him, the two of you must combine life forces. That way, if one of you should perish in battle, the other would perish as well."

There was silence in the room, and Suki suddenly seemed unsure. Hesitantly, she turned to Zuko and asked, "Do you trust me?" The look in her eyes was unclear to Elsa, but it seemed to be a mixture of several different emotions piling on top of one another. Suddenly, the queen was irrationally embarrassed. She felt like she was viewing an intimate exchange, something far too personal and private.

Zuko nodded immediately, confidently, and reassuringly. Suki smiled a small yet happy smile and she turned to the Servant. "We'll do it," she said.

"It is not that simple," he replied. "Firelord Zuko is one of the two most important pieces in this game. If he were to die because of your inability to protect yourself, it would be a lethal blow to the Master's cause. I can only allow you to join with him if you can prove your own skill."

By now, Suki's eyes had narrowed and she was growing visibly angry. "What are we waiting for then?" she almost spat. She took two steps forward to the Servant before they both vanished in a ripple of light.

Zuko shouted, "Suki!" and his mother gasped, while Ty Lee asked rather daftly, "Where'd she go?" The Firelord ran to where Suki and the Servant had been standing a moment before and then rounded on Elsa. There was a startling mix of desperation and anger in his good eye.

"Where are they?" he yelled at the queen. She took a step back, his voice bowling over her like a physical force. "Where did they go?"

"I don't know," Elsa said, trying to remain calm. "I don't know anything more about this than you."

Her words managed to deflect Zuko's anger away from herself, but then it had nowhere to go. He pulled at his hair for moment before letting out an enraged howl. "I can't believe this!" he yelled.

The queen mother stepped forward. Her voice filled the room, calm and comforting. "Zuko, you said yourself that we were all just going to have to go along with whatever that man says or does. It hasn't been five minutes and you already are screaming and yelling. You need to calm down." She put her hand on his shoulder, but he didn't look at her. He did stop shouting, though.

Now that Elsa no longer felt like she was in immediate danger, she began to feel annoyance at Zuko's outburst. He had exploded so quickly, and then turned on her for no apparent reason. His antics weren't befitting of a ruler of a nation. Elsa couldn't help but wonder why the queen mother wasn't in charge. The Firelord was most definitely too young and uncouth for his position.

Unfortunately, now that Zuko had stopped shouting, an awkward silence filled the room. Elsa glanced from him to his mother to Ty Lee, who had bent over backward in an odd fashion. Looking back at the queen mother, Elsa saw that she was coming her way.

"I don't believe we've been properly introduced," the older woman said.

Elsa couldn't help but remember the unpleasant look the queen mother had given her earlier, but she decided to ignore it and pretend it hadn't happened. The woman had probably just been confused, worried, and suspicious. After all, she seemed perfectly amiable now.

"Yes, I'm sorry," Elsa replied. "Forgive me. I am Queen Elsa of Arendelle." She gave a slight curtsy.

"I am Ursa, Firelord Zuko's mother. I'm sorry for any discomfort we may have caused you. We are all just a little… confused." The poor woman looked so genuinely sorry it seemed to pain her.

Elsa was quick to brush it all aside. "I completely understand. I'm slightly confused, as well. I was brought here from my kingdom by the Servant. He explained to me some of what he explained to Firelord Zuko. It's… difficult to think about."

Ursa nodded knowingly. Behind her, Zuko approached them. He bowed, bringing his hands together in front of him in an odd fashion. One was in a fist, while the only was held flat and rigid. As he bowed, Elsa noticed how strange the crown he wore was. It was fashioned so that it clipped into a raised knot of his hair. He straightened and said in a low voice, "I'm sorry for my outburst, Your Highness."

A bit taken aback, Elsa said, "It's quite all right. There's no need for an apology." But she was perturbed by his tone. It had sounded as if he had grudgingly apologized because someone had forced him to, but no one had. Elsa wondered why he had apologized if he obviously hadn't wanted to. Her confusion must have shown on her face, because the Firelord's eyes narrowed and he stared at her unabashedly.

Ty Lee bounded up and bowed to ground, almost as if she was worshipping Elsa. Then, she stood up and said with a huge smile, "I'm Ty Lee! It's wonderful to meet you, Your Highness!"

Elsa found it impossible not to smile at this girl's irrepressible good spirit. "The pleasure is all mine," she said, curtsying again. It was then that she realized that she hadn't curtsied to Zuko, and he was the actual royalty. Her eyes widened and stole a glance at him, but it was too late to amend the mistake. He was already staring off to the side, visibly pouting.

"You're dress is so sparkly, Your Highness!" Ty Lee continued, oblivious to Elsa's distractions. "I love it! It looks like something a Water Tribe Princess would wear."

"Thank you," Elsa said, smiling, though unsure exactly how else to respond. Despite that she had gotten good at reading people, small talk was still something she struggled with.

"It is quite lovely," Ursa said. "I've never seen a material like that. If you don't mind me asking—"

She never got to finish her question, because at that moment, there was a ripple of light. When it was gone, the Servant and Suki stood in the middle of the room. She looked a bit dazed, but immediately when she saw Zuko, she smiled.

"I did it!" she said happily. "I passed his test. I can come with you."

Zuko turned and looked at the Servant, ready to say something biting, but the man cut him off. "Now, all we must do is simply to bind your lives together until they are one. Stand in front of me." Elsa could tell that Zuko was still angry, but even he could not defy the Servant's orders.

When the two of them were positioned in front of the Servant, he directed them to grasp hands. Once they had done so, he raised his hands over theirs. Strings of light began to circle around their wrists, binding them together and slowly spreading down their arms. Suki and Zuko looked nowhere but each other's eyes throughout the whole process. Again, Elsa felt indecent for watching something so personal. She turned her face away.

When it was all over, Elsa heard Zuko take in a deep breath. She looked up, relieved, but then her stomach plummeted. Now, there was nothing between her and whatever she and Zuko had to face. She had been able to ignore it until now, but suddenly, fear overwhelmed her. _Do not fear_, she told herself sternly. _You'll be useless if you fear_.

The Servant beckoned to her and she walked over, trying to stay steady and confident. Zuko didn't look nervous in the slightest. He was frowning slightly, but that was normal. Suki was frowning too, creating worry lines in her pretty face.

Ursa hugged Zuko, and Ty Lee hugged Suki. Then, they traded. Ursa bowed again to Elsa before backing up, and Ty Lee shot her a huge smile.

"Are you ready?" the Servant asked uselessly.

_No,_ Elsa thought, but she nodded.

Then, after a flash of golden light, they were moving again.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter Two

When they stopped moving, the four of them were on a large plateau. In front of them loomed a dark mountain, silhouetted against the sunset. Glancing behind her, Elsa took in a wide desert dropping away from the plateau. The shadow of the mountain stretched across a large portion of the surrounding wasteland. It was covered in reddish piles of rocks with plants growing in and around them, and gusts of winds tossed sand this way and that across the plain.

Having never before seen a desert in person, the queen found it fascinating. She almost turned completely around to look at it, but the Servant began speaking again.

"This is the world upon which the Master has chosen his forces to converge. Your destination is near the summit of that mountain." The Servant pointed to the rather obvious mountain in front of them. "You must go there as quickly as you can. The others will be waiting for you."

Zuko turned and looked at the Servant rather suspiciously. "Why couldn't you just take us there, yourself?"

Elsa had been wondering the same thing, but she was surprised at the Firelord's directness. She didn't think challenging the Servant like that was a good idea.

However, their guide didn't seem to mind at all. In fact, he was ready with an explanation the second Zuko stopped talking. "The purpose of this exercise is to help both the king and queen realize each other's strengths and weaknesses. Each pair selected by the Master has to find thier way to the top of the mountain in order to create a bond between them." The Servant stepped aside, apparently expecting them to start trudging up the rocky slope.

Zuko's mouth opened in unabashed surprise, and then he looked at Elsa. Without turning away, he said, "Is that really necessary?"

"The Master wishes it, so it shall be done," the Servant intoned.

The Firelord's head dropped a little in disappointment. "Okay," he said in acquiescence, "Let's get this over with."

His attitude offended Elsa, and it wasn't hard to say why. He seemed to think that having to work together with her on something was the most horrible punishment imaginable. _Well!_ she thought irately, _The feeling is mutual!_ She didn't want to have to deal with him, either. Unfortunately, the Servant promptly vanished before anyone could protest further.

All they could do was go along with his instructions. Looking up at the mountain, Elsa realized it was a daunting task. She knew what it was like to hike up mountains, but this one looked much taller than any near Arendelle. She took one step forward and discovered that she was still wearing slippers. Mortified, she wanted to discreetly form some shoes made of ice, but Zuko and Suki were both facing her.

"Well," Suki said, resignation evident in her expression, "We might as well start making our way to the base of the mountain." She took the lead, followed by Zuko. Elsa brought up the rear, discreetly trying to change her shoes as she walked. It was tricky, and she ended up losing her balance. She managed to right herself, but only after tripping forward and nearly bumping into Zuko.

He turned his head to her and said, "Something wrong?"

"I'm fine," Elsa answered automatically, before she realized that that wasn't exactly what he had been asking. "No," she said. "Nothing's wrong."

It occurred to her that considering the circumstances, it would have been accurate to say that a lot of things were wrong. However, Zuko appeared satisfied, if not relieved, by her answer, and he faced forward again.

The ground beneath Elsa's feet crumbled as she walked, and the dryness of the place was new to her. She had never seen a landscape so hot and dusty. Books she had read told stories of desert places far to the south of her kingdom, but she had never imagined actually seeing one.

Suki led them at a brisk pace, and in no time, they reached the foot of the mountain. The ground starting sloping upward and became very rocky. Thankfully, the air was starting to cool off considerably as the sun sank lower and lower behind the mountain. Unfortunately, their light source was leaving them. Soon, Suki stopped and looked at Zuko.

"Maybe you should lead the way now," she said. "…since you can make a light."

The Firelord nodded and stepped forward, holding out his hand. To Elsa's astonishment, a small flame starting flickering above his palm. It grew to about the size of an orange and created enough light for them to see the ground well enough.

"You can create fire?" Elsa asked, amazed. She had never met another person with powers anything like her own.

Zuko turned to her incredulously. "Well, yes. I _am_ the Firelord."

The queen had been planning on sharing her abilities with him, but his response was so sarcastic that she decided against it. "I'm sorry," she replied hastily. "I didn't realize…"

"It's okay," Suki said quickly. Zuko wordlessly turned and started up the path again. His bodyguard continued talking, hanging back until she walked side by side with Elsa. "You're not from… our world, are you, Your Highness?" She smiled slightly, making it less of a question and more of a statement.

"I don't think so. I was found by the Servant, just like Firelord Zuko." Elsa smiled pleasantly, but inside, she felt uncomfortable. She didn't like talking about what was happening to them. It seemed too unreal.

"Yes, you don't look like anyone I've ever seen in our world," Suki said. Then, her eyes widened. "I mean, that's not a bad thing, Your Highness; it's just that I've never known anyone with such light hair."

"Really?" Elsa mused. "Well, even on my world, hair this color isn't common."

"Well, it's lovely," Suki said kindly.

"Thank you," Elsa replied, smiling more genuinely this time.

"So, what is your world like, Your Highness?"

The queen was unsure how to answer suck a vague question. "What do you mean?"

"I don't know exactly. I mean, I guess I'm wondering how different yours is from ours, if it's even different at all."

"Well, what is _your_ world like?"

"Um, I don't know." Suki stared distantly into the air in front of her. "It's… world-ish, I guess. I don't know how to describe it. Well, there're people, for one thing."

They both laughed, and Elsa covered her mouth with her hand. "I would hope so," she chuckled.

"Quiet!" Zuko hissed suddenly, holding his arm out. Both women stopped abruptly, Elsa nearly falling backward trying to avoid his hand. She stared up at him in consternation, but he wasn't looking at her. Instead, he was turning in a circle, apparently searching for something. He had extinguished his flame, not wanting to be seen.

"What is it, Zuko?" Suki whispered.

"I heard someone. I that it came from that direction, but—"

Just as Zuko was pointing to their right, the clamor of voices reached them. They sounded masculine, and there was definitely more than one. Suki's eyes narrowed dangerously. "I'll scout them out. Cover me, Zuko." With that, Elsa's companions had noiselessly climbed some rocks in their way and disappeared.

Elsa blinked, surprised at how quickly she'd been abandoned. Well, perhaps "abandoned" wasn't quite the right term. _They're just keeping me out of the way_, she thought bemusedly. Unsure of what to do, she decided to follow them, albeit at a safe distance.

Stepping over the rocks took more effort than Suki and Zuko had let on. They had done it without looking even the slightest bit taxed. By the time she'd gotten about ten feet and realized she could have been making a smooth ice pathway, she heard a loud yell, followed by some scuffling. Forgetting all pretense of trying to be quiet, she ran as fast as she could.

The mountainside sloped downward and Elsa saw something rather unexpected. Zuko was pinned to the ground, a cloaked figure pressing a sword to his neck. Suki, meanwhile, had forced someone else to the ground, holding what looked suspiciously like a metal fan above him threateningly. Suki and the cloaked figure both looked at each other in anticipation, ready to strike if necessary.

"Let him go!" Suki shouted. "Or I'll kill your companion!"

"Get off me, woman!" the man she was holding shouted gruffly.

"Get off him, and I'll get off your friend," the other stranger said.

Elsa realized what a dangerous situation Suki was trapped in. If the cloaked man decided to strike first and kill Zuko, Suki would die as well. Then Elsa would be left alone to face two men, at least one of which was obviously very dangerous. That could not be allowed to happen.

"Wait," Elsa said, stepping forward so that they all noticed her.

"Don't come any closer!" the man pinning Zuko said.

"But please," Elsa said, though she stopped coming toward him. She looked at both the stranger and Suki. "Everyone just… get off of everybody else… slowly. I'm sure this all just one big misunderstanding."

Nobody budged. Elsa sighed inwardly. Why was she, the socially inept one, trying to reason with people? It was only going to end badly. But something told her the cloaked man and his companion weren't enemies.

"Who are you?" the cloaked one said, but his voice had lost most of its antagonism.

Elsa automatically straightened up before she realized what she was doing. "I am Queen Elsa of Arendelle. I believe this can all be explained." She made a point of looking the man in the eye as well as she could. It was difficult, giving that she could barely see his face. "We were summoned by one called the Servant. Is that how you came to be here, too?"

The stranger relaxed slightly, but kept his sword against Zuko's throat. "Yes," he said. "The Servant told both of us that we were needed for a great battle. You must be the queen!" Recognition flooded his voice, and he looked down at Zuko. "And you must be—"

"Ready to get up," Zuko gritted out, obviously irate.

The cloaked figure stood up, sheathed his sword, and held out his hand to Zuko, who ignored it and got up on his own. Suki stood as well, but she didn't put away her fans or offer the man lying on the ground beneath her any help. He shakily got to his feet and said, "Well, after that friendly hello, I suppose introductions are in order. My name is Eragon." He glanced at his companion and then added, "That's Marth. Apparently, he's some kind of royalty, but he tried explaining it to me, and it was ridiculously complicated. He's known as the Hero-King."

Even in the dark, Elsa could see Zuko's good eye widen incredulously. She did have to admit that a title like "Hero-King" was laying it on a bit thick.

Suki took one look at Zuko and shook her head, amused. Then she said, "I'm Suki, and this is Firelord Zuko. Hey, Zuko," she added cautiously, "Don't you think introductions might go a little better if we could see the people we're meeting?"

Zuko grunted and held out his hand, starting a fire in his palm. Marth and Eragon seemed much less fazed by his abilities than Elsa. Obviously, they were more used to this sort of thing. Now that she was able to get a good look at her companions, Elsa was rather startled. Eragon was young, but Marth was even younger than Zuko.

_Why is it I'm the oldest one here?_ Elsa wondered. That meant she was going to have to herd these people around and be the responsible one. Zuko and Suki were obviously reckless, so she knew they'd at least need someone sensible to keep up with them.

The next thing she noticed about the two newcomers was Marth's hair. She wasn't absolutely positive because of the lighting, but it looked to be a dark blue color. It also seemed to maintain perfect shape, not a single hair out of place. Eragon, on the other hand, had light brown hair, and it went everywhere.

Their hair wasn't the only thing different about them. Marth's build was lean, and while Eragon wasn't stout, he definitely had grown up doing lots of physical labor. He held himself like a strong man.

She realized that no one was saying anything, and the situation was growing awkward. "Why don't we keep going up the mountain," she suggested, feeling rather sheepish.

Suki nodded, saying, "That's a good idea." Zuko turned on his heal, leading the way. Eragon and Suki followed, Elsa and Marth bringing up the rear.

In no time at all, Eragon had Suki laughing riotously at some far-fetched story about dwarves and leaping goats, and he'd even managed to get a few words out of Zuko. Elsa told herself that she and Marth hadn't said anything to each other was because they were listening to Eragon talk. It wasn't because Elsa was a completely inept conversationalist. That was not it at all.

They climbed for hours, and eventually, Eragon stopped talking to save his breath. At one point, Elsa tripped on some loose rocks and Marth caught her. Despite his slim stature, he felt surprisingly steady. She looked up in shock and said, "Thank you, Your Highness," meeting his eyes. He smiled and said something in reply that she didn't catch.

It felt rather undignified to half to walk all the way up a mountain, but the top was nearing and she felt rather accomplished to have come the whole way. She was breathing hard—in all honestly, it was more like gasping—and she couldn't stand it. Her companions were in slightly better shape; she guessed they consistently did more physical activities than she. Still, no one seemed happy about having to climb all the way up the mountain, especially when the Servant could have just dropped them off at the top. Eragon muttered something along those lines at some point, getting a noise of agreement from Suki.

They were about three hundred yards from the peak when they found it. They had been going at an angle due a large, impassable rock formation blocking their path, and when Zuko turned a corner, he stopped abruptly.

"I think we're here," he said, his voice a mixture of relief and his usual grumpiness.

Elsa couldn't help but wonder how on earth he managed to stay so sullen, but when she came around the bend, she was distracted by the sight in front of her.

A huge building made of gray stone jutted out of the side of the mountain. Several towers poked out of the ground here and there farther up the slope, indicating that the whole summit was hollowed out. In front of the building there was a large, flat expanse of ground. The group hadn't been able to see it before because the mountain had blocked their view. Now, they could see that the plain extended for quite a ways before dropping again. "I guess that that's where we're headed," Eragon said, looking at his gaping companions. Elsa self-consciously closed her mouth.

Zuko started forward, and the group obediently followed him. The queen wasn't sure why they all kept behind him; perhaps he just had the air of a leader. Suki stayed close by his side, and Elsa noticed that she'd gotten out her fan again.

The building was designed like some sort of mansion. Of what Elsa could see, it looked almost as big as her castle, and she had no idea how far it stretched under the mountain. It wasn't inviting, but it wasn't exactly foreboding, either. It looked uninhabited, but obviously, she couldn't be sure.

The flat expanse in front of had been paved and made into a courtyard of sort, complete with a working fountain in the middle. The spraying water was the only sign that the place was kept in good condition. There were no trees or birds or anything. It was simply empty.

Just as the group was passing the fountain, which looked neither brand new nor old, two figures came out of the front of the mansion. One was a woman, tall, slender, and clothed in an elegant cyan dress Elsa liked. The other was an old man, also tall, but made even taller by his wide brimmed, pointy hat. He had an impressive beard that reached his stomach, and he was clothed in an ancient, gray cloak.

Elsa felt her companions tense, but thankfully, none of them attacked. At least Suki and Zuko had learned their lesson.

"You have arrived at last," the old man spoke in a low, raspy voice, somehow solemn and genial simultaneously. He said something else, but the queen had become distracted by the woman's dress. It seemed to softly radiate light, causing her form to glow. Elsa really wanted that dress, but she couldn't let herself be distracted by something so trivial. She returned her attention to the old man, who was saying, "…name is Gandalf. This is Lady Rosalina. We were chosen to be the two mages."

Eragon stepped forward, saying with confidence, "I am Eragon, and this is King Marth. We were chosen to be the guardians."

He and Marth moved to the side, and Gandalf eyed the remaining three. "There is something strange here," he said. "The king and queen are the only pieces unaccounted for, yet there are three of you." He raised his eyebrows at them, indicating that his statement was really a question.

Rather nervous under his stare, Elsa said hurriedly, "I am Queen Elsa. I was chosen to be… the queen." She moved to the side, silently hoping Suki and Zuko could explain the situation quickly.

"I am Zuko's bodyguard," the young woman explained, trying hard to stay confident. "The Servant told me I could accompany Zuko if I passed a test. I did, and so the Servant allowed me to stay with him."

Gandalf smiled, but Elsa could see the frown in his eyes. "Interesting. Well, as long as the Servant—and the Master—approves, it should be fine. Come, now," he said, turning away, his tone suddenly changing to something very light and cordial. "We have a tour to take of this magnificent house the Servant has given us." He entered the house while Rosalina stepped to the side, motioning to the others to pass her.

Eragon cast a glance at his hesitant comrades and strode forward casually. Suki gave Zuko a look, which he repaid with a glare, and they followed behind Eragon.

"After you, Your Highness," Marth said politely.

"Thank you," Elsa replied, smiling in return. It was rather pointless though, as the entrance and adjacent hallway were wide enough for several people and Marth ended up at her side in a few strides. As they passed Rosalina, Elsa was struck by how far she towered over everyone. If there was one thing she had immediately liked about the groups two newest members, it was that she was no longer the oldest one here. Rosalina looked to be about her age, and the old man came across as ancient.

Gandalf apparently had some sort of light source, because a bright light illuminated the passages around them. The mansion had nothing in it to fill the wide hallways and empty rooms. Eventually, the group came to a large, open area, the ceiling and far walls dropping away into blackness.

"This," Gandalf said, coming to a halt, "Is the center of this compound. You may go anywhere you like, do whatever you want, claim whichever rooms you like and so on. Rosalina and I have been given extensive information about the parts we all have been called to play. Tomorrow, we will meet back here for a nice morning breakfast at nine o'clock to discuss what we know. For now, I suggest we all get a good night's rest. I know I, for one, need it." With that, he shuffled away, his staff clumping on the ground.

Zuko lit a fire in his palm he turned to Suki. He acted as if he was about to say something, but paused. Looking up at everyone else, he said, somewhat hesitantly, "I can help you… you know… find a room, Suki." He visibly swallowed. "And everyone else." It almost looked like it pained him to say it.

Elsa wanted an excuse more than anything to brush his offer aside, and when Eragon said something unintelligible and fire appeared in his palm, as well, she immediately decided to go with him. Then the she realized that if she was going to room next to anyone, it should probably be Suki.

"Thank you, Firelord," she said, sighing inwardly. "Your Majesty's help would be most appreciated."

For just a moment, Zuko almost looked like he wasn't scowling. Then he turned sharply on his heal without so much as a word, and the queen decided she had just imagined it. It wouldn't have surprised her to learn that anything less offensive than a frown had never deigned to touch Zuko's face.

"I suppose I'll go with you," said Rosalina serenely from behind her. Elsa jumped, having forgotten that the woman was even there.

"Oh," she gasped, "Yes, okay."

Rosalina only laughed lightly to herself before drifting forward.

Zuko was practically out of sight by now, Suki trying to slow him down to wait for the others. Marth and Eragon had gone out of the hall some other way; it had many different exits all around the room.

Elsa hurried forward, catching up to Suki quickly. Rosalina kept a few feet behind, staying decidedly unobtrusive.

Like the hallways before, this one was blank and devoid of everything. What they really needed were torches so that they could leave behind the grumpy Firelord.

Surprisingly, they rounded a corner and were shocked to see several torches lining the wall. _Thank goodness!_ Elsa thought, pulling one out of its holder. Now she could get away from Zuko and his incessant scowl. For a moment, she wondered what made Suki so determined to protect him. It couldn't be his charming personality.

Her chance to break off from the group came when they passed a set of stairs. She hurried over to them and discovered that they spiraled upward quite far. _Perhaps these go to one of the towers,_ she thought, and eagerly ran up the steps. It didn't take her long to run out of breath, but she kept going. _There better be a tower at the top of this, and it had better have a balcony with a great view_. Finally, the end of the stairs came in sight and a gasp escaped her as she looked into the room beyond.

It was rather plain, but the balcony that stuck out beyond it had caught her full attention. In a moment, she was out in the open air, leaning over the edge. It was exactly what she had wanted. Amused and stunned by her luck, she closed her eyes and felt the cool night air against her face. She decided that the night would be prettier with a light snow falling, and in a few second, tiny white flakes drifted down from the sky. For a moment, she was able to forget where she was.

The sound of a gong brought her back to reality. She turned, wondering where the sound had come from, and jumped when she saw Suki walking up the stairs, holding a touch in one hand and some blankets in the other.

"I'm sorry, Your Highness," Suki apologized, speaking over the gong, which kept ringing every few seconds. "I didn't mean to scare you. We did find some blankets though. It was funny, because I had just mentioned to Zuko that we needed them and—"

"Thank you. You can just set them on the floor, there," Elsa said. Maybe this building, with its limited resources, was a part of their "group bonding" exercises. She had certainly never imagined that she would be given free reign of a mansion larger than her castle, only to be told that there were no beds, only blankets.

"I never expected snow tonight," Suki said. "It wasn't even that cold a moment ago. It's a shame that the balcony here doesn't have doors. All the cold and snow will get in."

"Yes," Elsa mused. "It _is_ a shame that—" She stopped when she glanced to the side and saw doors flung open on either side of the entrance. "Wait. It does have doors! That's funny. I didn't see them either." She laughed and walked to one of the doors, but a glance at Suki told her something was wrong.

The girl shook her head. "I could have sworn those weren't there a second ago." She stared at the doors for several seconds as if she was worried that they might vanish, and then shook her head again, leaving. Elsa left the doors wide open and turned to face the night. The snow calmed her, even though she herself hadn't realized how tense she'd been.

Closing her eyes, she thought to herself, _I hope there's a door to close off the stairway, because that's the one I actually want._ Turning around, she found that, yes, there was indeed a door right where she wanted.

"Wonderful," she said aloud, crossing the room and closing it. The breeze and snow could come in, but the people—oh, she was tired of being with people—would stay out, at least for tonight. _Now if only I had a bed…_ the queen mused, turning around. Then she let out a small shriek.

In the corner sat an elegant bed quite like the one she slept in at home. It looked very solid, despite having not been there seconds before.

After sitting on it warily and finding it trustworthy, she came to the conclusion that she had to be dreaming. That was the only explanation for all of this. And now, her mind wanted the dream to end, so it was telling her to go to sleep. _Maybe if go to sleep in this dream, I'll wake up in real life_. The plan didn't make much sense in all honesty, but none of this made sense.

She knew deep in her mind that what was happening to her was real, but she was content for now to pretend that tomorrow she would get up out of her bed in her castle. Zuko and the Servant and this whole place would be gone, and life could get back to normal. It vaguely pained her to want that, because that meant wanting Suki and Marth and the others to disappear as well, but she decided that they were worth sacrificing.

Sleep was quickly overtaking her mind as she lay down on her side, trying to keep her thoughts straight. She had to be ready early tomorrow, but how would she wake up? Would Gandalf and Rosalina be able to better explain the game? Were there still more allies to meet?

She had so many thoughts bouncing around in her head that they all just crashed together and landed in an unorganized heap. She tried desperately to ignore her trash pile of thoughts, and eventually, she succeeded, dropping in a dreamless sleep.

*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*

**A.N. – Woo, chapter two!**

**Slightly shorter this time, but not too much.**

**So, I meant to have some author's notes at the end of chapter one… but I forgot, so here they are, plus this chapter's notes.**

**Chapter One**

**Firstly, this takes place a few months after the events of **_**Frozen**_**. Elsa is still twenty-one. I tried to make her behave as "in-character" as possible for this story, because I can't see those few months really changing her that much.**

**Secondly, the Avatar universe is in a time period after the show and the sequel comics, specifically, "The Search". So, Mai has broken up with Zuko, Ursa has been found, and Suki and Ty Lee function as Zuko's bodyguards. In the comics, it's hinted that Suki grows rather attached to Zuko, so that's why she's so desperate to go with him in this story. Additionally, she's had training from Ty Lee on Chi-blocking, so that may or may not come in play later. (And for any curious Avatar fans, yes, I'm a complete Zutarian. Unfortunately, Katara has only a 2% chance of being in this story at all, because of stupid old cannon compliancy… grr…)**

**Now, Chapter Two's A.N.**

**First off, I apologize to any **_**Inheritance Cycle**_** fans about my treatment of Eragon. I'm absolutely positive I got his character traits wrong, but it's been so long since I read those books. Plus, his character's pretty bland anyway, so I didn't have much to work with. In all honesty, he's just a filler character for that eighth spot. Don't be surprised if he ends up being a butt-monkey. Just know that I'm trying to make him a likeable character, but I'm just sort of ignoring the porcelain-faced, emotionless puppet that he was in the original story. This story takes place after the end of the **_**Inheritance Cycle,**_** so Eragon and Saphira have been living alone in that… one place… taking care of… dragon souls… I think? (It's seriously been awhile; I can remember for sure is that Murtagh goes off to find his place in the world; Boo!)**

**Next, Marth. Can I admit that I have never played any **_**Fire Emblem**_** games with him in them? In fact, I just got my first game in the series a few days ago. But I had planned to use him long before that. I've done some researching into his personality and back-story, so his portrayal here shouldn't be too off. This story takes place once Marth is king, but he's still young. He's older than he looks, though.**

**Gandalf is from the sixty year period between **_**The Hobbit**_** and **_**The Lord of the Rings**_**. I figure he probably had time for this adventure somewhere in there.**

**And finally, Rosalina! The most randomly popular Mario character of all time. Seriously. Her popularity is inexplicable, but she's in **_**everything**_** now. Super Smash, Mario Kart, Super Mario… EVERYTHING! So, she also gets to be in this! This story takes place after all her video game appearances in the Mario Universe. Heck, she's sort of immortal, so it could be thousands of years after Mario.**

**Okay, so here's a list of all the pieces so far.**

**King Zuko/Suki**

**Queen Elsa**

**Bishop (Mage) Gandalf**

**Bishop (Mage) Rosalina**

**Knight ?**

**Knight ?**

**Rook (Guardian) Eragon**

**Rook (Guardian) Marth**

**And I won't bother putting question marks next to all the pawns names, because, you know, none of them have shown up yet…**

**Okay! Well, I think that that's it for this entry. I'll try and keep posting chapters pretty regularly if people keep acting like they like it.**


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter Three

Morning arrived far too quickly. Elsa rolled out of bed grudgingly, not wanting the day to start already. Her feet shuffled tiredly out onto the balcony, and she saw that it was only minutes from sunrise. A yawn forced its way out of her mouth, and her eyes watered.

_My hair_, she thought, reaching up and patting the braid. It was still fairly tight, but kinks had formed where she slept on it. She undid the braid, and her hair fell across her shoulders. Getting the tangles out was a simple matter of pushing ice-combs through her hair, and in minutes, it flowed down around her neck in neat waves. Weaving some ice ribbon through it, she reformed the braid as best as she could.

_I need a mirror_, she thought. Suspecting what would happen when she turned around, she braced herself. Then, she glanced back, and a full length mirror, clearer than she'd ever seen, hung on the far wall. She blinked before striding toward it, accepting the rather unsettling nature of the mansion. _It _is_ rather convenient, albeit scary_, she mused.

Her dress looked fine, but it seemed somewhat ridiculous given the circumstances. She wasn't sure what to change, though, so she ended up leaving everything the way it was. After one last glance in the mirror, she headed downstairs, not knowing where else to go.

She didn't run into anybody in the hallway, and she was the first one to arrive in the main room. Suddenly, the gong rang out, making her jump. It sounded seven times, and she realized that it was some sort of clock. W_hy didn't it wake us all up every hour during the night?_ she wondered. _It's certainly loud enough to_.

Then, it hit her that it was only seven in the morning; there were still two hours before breakfast. Why did they have to wait until nine, anyway? Even Anna usually got up earlier than that!

Frowning, she looked around the empty room, wondering what she could do to pass the long hours. Perhaps just going outside and looking around could pass some time. Yes, that was what she would do.

She managed to find the way out on the first try. The previous day had been so eventful that she hadn't really paid as much attention to the directions as she should have. The morning was still a little gray, the sun just barely beginning to show over the mountains. Walking toward the sunrise, she could help but notice that the air was very thin. The night before, she had thought it was just her exhaustion that was making her short of breath, but now she realized that it was the atmosphere.

_Oh, well, it was thin on the North Mountain, and that didn't kill me_. Yes, it had been thin, but it had also been wonderfully cold. Here, the air was already starting to get a little tepid.

She paused. Wasn't the air supposed to get colder the higher you were?

Her thoughts were interrupted when she saw a lone figure standing a few feet away, facing the sunrise. His hair was shaggy and dark, and she couldn't place him. He did look familiar, though.

She gasped when recognition came. It was Zuko. He wore different clothes now, probably courtesy of the mansion's strange abilities, and his hair was down. The clothes looked similar to his royal robes in color and material, but the outfit was pants and a shirt.

Intending to walk away and leave him alone, she turned. Unfortunately, he spoke. "I wondered if anyone else here was an early riser."

_He_ had spoken to _her_? In actual conversation? Intrigued, she stopped walking away and swallowed. "So… you heard me?" she asked, hoping it wasn't indecent.

"Would have been hard not to," he said, looking back at her smugly.

Her eyes widened, first in shock, and then in irritation. For royalty, he wasn't exactly polite. Then again, she'd already known that, so she wondered why it continued to surprise her.

"Well, I didn't know I had any reason to be quiet," she replied, smiling and taking the passive-aggressive approach. Zuko scowled, seemingly in an attempt to counterbalance her ridiculous grin she was forcing on her face.

"I didn't mean it like that," he said quietly. This was probably the closest thing to an apology Elsa would be getting.

"Really?" she said, hoping the incredulous tone in her voice was just the right mixture of subtle and obvious to confuse him.

His scowl turned into a look of exasperation. "Really," he said, completely deadpan.

_You_, Elsa thought, _are so awkward_. Sadly, she wasn't sure if she was talking to herself or Zuko. He certainly wasn't pleasant, but she wasn't exactly approachable either. She decided to try a little bit harder to be friendly, as they were about to have to fight a war together.

"So do you get up this early every morning?" she asked amiably.

"Yes," he answered, and for several seconds, she thought he wasn't going to elaborate. Finally, he said, "It's a firebender thing."

"Oh." She decided to pretend like that explanation made sense. "So, do you enjoy watching the sunrise?" She almost hated to ask, as this conversation was becoming unbearably tense for no good reason.

"I was meditating. It's another firebender thing."

"Excuse me, fire-what?"

"Firebender. It's what people who can control fire are called on my world."

Again, all she could say was, "Oh." How in the world had she been supposed to know that?

Shockingly, he kept explaining. "I mean, firebenders aren't the only ones who meditate. The air nomads did it too. And waterbenders do yoga, which is pretty much meditating. And earthbenders… well, they don't really value the spiritual aspects of bending, so they have no use for meditation and… I'm sorry. I'm probably boring you." He turned away quickly and seemed ready to leave.

"No, no!" Elsa quickly interjected. She was fascinated by this completely human side of Zuko. He was still frowning while he talked, but at least he didn't _sound_ angry. "I'm just a little confused. So, in your world, different people can control different elements?"

"Yes," he said.

"And that's… normal?"

"Well, not everyone can bend, but quite a few can."

"Wow," Elsa said. "I've never heard of anyone else on Earth who—"

"There you are, Zuzu!" a female voice called out.

Zuko blushed deep scarlet and said, "Don't call me that!"

Elsa turned and saw Suki and Eragon approaching them, followed closely by Marth. Suki was no longer wearing her makeup, and had on a different dress. This one seemed lighter weight. Eragon and Marth looked roughly the same as they had before, except Eragon's hair was wilder from sleeping on it.

He shouted a greeting, a Marth raised his hand in hello. Suki strolled up to Zuko, smiling mischievously at him. Despite Zuko's embarrassment, Elsa couldn't help but notice that his frown had receded slightly now that Suki was here.

"I've asked you nicely several times to _never call me that_," Zuko whispered to Suki, loudly enough for Elsa to hear.

"Oh, relax," Suki said, laughing. "I've just been regaling these two with the story about the koala-sheep and the bed sheets and the cherries."

Zuko's eyes, even the scarred one, widened in horror. "You didn't!"

Her smile turned rather evil. "I haven't quite finished. I wanted to find you and see if you could help me with the ending. See, I don't exactly remember what happened after the koala-sheep fell off the balcony. Wasn't that about when you mother—"

"That's enough of that story," Zuko said with surprising finality. Even Eragon stopped laughing as Zuko gave them all death glares. Elsa got one, too, which she thought was very unfair.

Finding her fun spoiled, Suki dejectedly turned away. "Come on, guys. He's in one of his serious moods."

As they disappeared behind some trees, Zuko muttered, "I'm always serious." His eyes narrowed and he started after them.

"Where are you going?" Elsa asked.

"I'm not letting her out of my sight. No one is going to hear the end of that story."

Admittedly curious to see how this conflict was going to play out, Elsa started following him.

He stopped and faced her. "Please, don't follow me. She'll hear you coming."

"I'm not _that_ loud," Elsa said, finding it difficult to keep her voice pleasant.

Zuko seemed unconvinced. "Well, Suki is a highly martial artist with finely honed senses. She'd hear you coming." Instead of waiting for an argument from Elsa, he left her alone, unable to protest quickly enough. She knew that she didn't really have a reason to follow other than unabashed nosiness, but that didn't mean she wasn't offended.

Besides, now she _had _to know about the koala-sheep—whatever that was—and the cherries.

But just as she had decided to go after Zuko, Marth came walking out of the trees. _Trees_, Elsa realized. That was anything thing this mountain peak had that it shouldn't.

"Hello," Elsa said, curtsying. She realized a bit late that once again she had neglected to curtsy to Zuko. No wonder he didn't like her.

"Good morning, Your Majesty," Marth said, bowing gracefully.

He stood there, a calm, pleasant expression on his face, but said nothing else. Elsa waited patiently for a moment, and then said, "Did you… need something?" She hoped that her tone had been polite.

Marth hesitated, his smile faltering. "No, Your Majesty. I was merely… concerned for your safety. I do not think it is wise for any of us to be alone out here, least of all, you and Firelord Zuko. The Servant made it clear that as a guardian my foremost duty is to protect the two of you."

"Oh," Elsa mumbled. He had a point, but then again, she wasn't exactly defenseless. Besides, there didn't seem to be any actual danger yet. "Well, thank you for your consideration," she said.

They were interrupted by a shout darting through the trees. Both of them turned in surprised, and a second later, another shout cut through the air.

"That can't be good," Elsa said, about to run forward, but something on the back of her neck tingled. She didn't know if it was instinct or luck, but whatever it was made her turn and glance behind her.

Something was hurtling toward her at a ridiculous speed. She didn't have time to react; she didn't even have time to be afraid.

A large mass collided with her side and pushed her out of the way. Marth landed on top of her, having probably just saved her life. He groaned and rolled over, Elsa gasping when she saw the throwing implement imbedded in the front of his shoulder. A sharp cry of pain escaped him as fell off her and onto the ground rather roughly.

Elsa looked at where the attack had originated, but nothing was there. _At least, nothing there that I can see_, she realized. Unsure of what else she could do, she decided to form a protective dome of ice over the two of them. Once that was done, she could check Marth's wound. She didn't know much about medicine, but she'd be able to tell if it was in the vicinity of his heart or not.

The ice sprang up quickly and covered them, allowing her to crawl to him and look at the wound. The weapon responsible for it appeared to be a double-ended throwing knife. He'd already pulled it out and dropped it to the side. Now, he was pressing a cloth to hole in his shoulder.

The wound didn't appear to be anything fatal. "I'll live," he gritted, obviously in pain, but speaking evenly.

"Just… keep pressure on it," Elsa said uselessly. He already was doing everything he could. "The ice will keep us safe."

Marth frowned. "Let's hope so. This attack was so sudden; I think we need to stop assuming things."

"How did they find us so quickly?" Elsa asked. She didn't know any of the rules of the game, but she was pretty sure that this attack hadn't been expected.

"I don't know," Marth answered.

They lapsed into silence, Elsa's head whipping around as she tried to see anyone through the foggy dome of ice. She had made it quickly, so it was rather small, forcing them to lie low to the ground.

"So, you made this ice?" Marth inquired, looking at her intently.

"Yes. I did. I can control it." Elsa realized rather sheepishly that she hadn't told anyone that rather useful information. It would have been good for everyone to know each other's strengths before the battles started.

A yelp escaped her as someone landed on top of the dome. She looked up, startled, and saw a hazy figure looming over them. Suddenly a long sword stabbed through the ice, barely missing her. The sword pulled out again quickly; obviously, the person was readying for another strike.

The queen sent a large spike of ice up through the top of the dome, but the attacker leapt nimbly out of the way, landing somewhere beyond her limited vision.

"I can't see him," she said urgently. "We need to get as close to the middle of this as possible."

With significant effort, Marth shifted closer to the middle, but gave her more than enough space. He was so polite, even in such a dire situation, that it was a little bit ridiculous. She still preferred him to the Firelord, though.

"I'm going to thicken the ice," Elsa explained, raising her hand and letting her power flow through her fingertips. She could sense the barrier expanding until it was dense enough to keep sword out. "We should be completely safe now, unless they have some other way to attack us."

"I wonder how the others are fairing," Marth mused.

"What do you mean?" Elsa asked.

"Those shouts from before were probably another attack."

That meant Suki, Eragon, and Zuko were in danger. And for all Elsa knew, Gandalf and the others could have been attacked at the mansion as well.

"I've got to help," she said, sitting up as much as she could.

"But you'll be attack the most you leave this dome!" Marth argued. "You need to stay here."

"No, you need to stay here. You're wounded."

"But you could get hurt or even killed!" he protested, reaching out to stop her.

"I was caught unawares the first time. I'll keep my guard up; don't worry." Taking a page from Zuko, she started opening up a hole in the barrier before he could protest. In a moment, she was outside it, sealing up the gap.

Everything seemed quiet, but she knew better. Keeping her arms up, she slowly looked back and forth, listening and waiting for the next attack. She could hear the muffled sounds of Marth's protests from within the dome, but she ignored him.

Her nerves got to her and she created a large barrier on three sides so that she wouldn't have to continually watch her back. Just as she was finished the barrier, a flicker of movement caught her eye she sent out a blast of ice.

The assailant jumped out of the way of the attack, simultaneously throwing another dagger at her. She intercepted it with a spike of ice and kept her eyes on her opponent. He landed lightly and drew a sword with one hand, throwing still another dagger with the other.

She knocked this one out of the way with more ice, and then sent a large spike sliding toward the attacker. He dodged it, but it had managed to slow him down long enough for her to cover all the ground around him in a thin sheet of ice. It wasn't enough to make him stumble, but his progress was measured and careful.

Elsa risked approaching him to be able to see her target better. He was tall, sturdily built, and wearing dark clothes. His black hair was cut short and contrasted with his pale skin. His face, which was fairly common in proportion, bore no expression.

Summoning a large blast of wind and snow, she pushed her opponent back across the slick surface. Despite that he obviously lost control, his limbs flailing in all directions, he still made no noise. As he landed hard on the slippery ground, not even a grunt escaped his lips.

Pressing her advantage, the queen shot blast after blast, but the agile man seemed capable of avoiding everything she threw at him. However, she was keeping him on the defensive, so she knew he would tire eventually. She was barely exerting herself at all, so her goal became to simply outlast him.

Everything seemed to go well for several minutes, with his movements becoming less and less graceful. Unfortunately, he managed to duck behind the mass of ice she had created, giving him a chance to regain his footing. Hopping up suddenly, he sent a barrage of knives spinning toward Elsa's head. She was, without warning, hard-pressed to block his attacks. One of the knives stopped inches from her face, and he still drew closer, throwing knife after knife after knife.

Abruptly, her anger got the best of her. Until this point, she had unknowingly been holding back. Finally, her arm shot forward, sending a huge wave of hailstones straight at him. The stones knocked his knives off course, and he tried to leap out of the way. One of the larger stones hit him in the knee, and he stumbled and fell. He was to slow to get up, and to his horror, found his feet frozen to the ground. The ice didn't stop there, as two columns of it rose up and secured his hands in place.

Breathing hard, she approached him cautiously, keeping her hands raised. "What are you doing here?" she shouted, abandoning all subtlety.

The man said nothing. What else had she expected? She knew she didn't have it in her to threaten him; that just wasn't something she could do. She also knew that she couldn't just leave him there, but killing him while he was defenseless seemed wrong.

Any decision became unnecessary when another figure appeared in front of her, striking her face. She stumbled back, holding her cheek in shock. Frantically she searched for the new enemy, but he had vanished as quickly as he had come.

She heard something behind her and ice shot out almost involuntarily. She turned to see the attacker disappear before the blast made contact.

_Did he just… vanish?_

A shadow appeared, covering her and she looked up to see him plummeting toward her. She threw up a column of ice, intercepting him, but he vanished again.

Suddenly, he was beside her, knocking her to the ground. She turned and threw ice at where his face had been, but the attack met only air.

She didn't know how he moved so quickly, but she did know that it made him impossible to fight.

He continually attacked her from different angles, landing blows often and then vanishing into thin air. She was barely able to stay standing, and if he landed a direct blow again, it would be over. No matter how quickly she reacted, he was faster.

She formed shields of ice, adhering one to each arm, and they helped a little. Now, to protect herself, all she had to do was move the shields to whatever angle from which he was attacking. It was tiring work, though, and soon she found that she was slowing.

He appeared behind her kicked the back of her knees, sending her reeling forward. Collapsing to the ground, she did the only thing that she could do at that point; she created a thick shell of ice around her whole body, leaving nothing but tiny holes for hearing a breathing open.

_If he has a sword, this shell won't be much use,_ she thought, unable to move. Now, she was totally at his mercy.

She heard one of her attackers say, "Leave her. There's another one inside that dome. Get in there and kill him. She'll still be here when you come out."

"And you?"

"I can't move. You can. Now, kill him quickly."

There was silence, and Elsa began to panic. Her foe—what if he could just vanish and reappear somewhere else at will? He had appeared to do as much during their fight. If that was the case, the barrier she had erected around Marth would be useless. In fact, it would just trap him in a close space with his assailant.

Dissipating the icy shell protecting her, she turned to the dome. She waved her hands and the dome started to vanish; out of the corner of her eye, she watched the other attacker. He was still immobile, thoroughly frozen to the ground.

The dome disappeared entirely, and Marth looked at her questioningly. She started to move toward him, saying, "Can you stand? You need to get up, quickly!" He pulled himself to his feet, slowing only slightly due to his wound. He looked at her and then at the incapacitated foe. A look of admiration began to cross his features before he was attacked from above by the other enemy.

Elsa screamed as Marth collapsed to the ground again, but her cry was followed by a spike of ice traveling toward the attacker at amazing speed. Again, it met nothing but air, his skill still proving too much for Elsa's magic.

Breathing hard, she hurried over to Marth, who was lying on the ground in an unnatural-looking heap. Just as she reached him, he groaned and flopped onto his back, straightening out. Assuring herself that he was going to be fine, she spun around, looking for the vanishing foe. Her eyes locked on him several feet away, trying to pull his companion free of the ice.

Knowing this could be her only chance, the queen waved her hands, and the ice crept from one man to the other, securing them together. However, the vanishing one simply disappeared again.

She frowned and spun around, preparing herself from a new onslaught.

The only way to stop her foe would be to kill him. She didn't like it, but she realized that there was not much of a choice. Despite having never killed anyone—intentionally, at least—she wasn't afraid to accept it as a necessity. Besides, these two had attacked first; they were the aggressors.

It all sounded simple in her head, but the fact remained that she had probably just missed the only chance she was going to have to kill the man. He wasn't going to try and free his companion again, knowing what she could do. He wouldn't make the same mistake twice.

She positioned herself over Marth, who was still flat on the ground, grimacing. Her muscles tensed, and her eyes zipped all around. Trying to anticipate an attack from every direction was impossible. She even had to keep glancing upward to make sure he would strike from above again.

For some reason, the attacks seemed to stop. She told herself that it was a trick, but she couldn't help but lower her guard a little and rest a moment. Suddenly, the trees to her left rustled slightly, and she pelted them with a large, clumsy spray.

Marth started to stand shakily, drawing his sword. "I'm beginning to feel rather useless," he commented. "I'll watch your back."

They positioned themselves back to back, Elsa keeping alert the whole time. She heard some scuffling to her right and sent another wide blast in that direction. "Stay calm," Marth said. "I think he's trying to scare us—keep our nerves on edge."

Elsa acknowledged with a short, "Right," and continued scanning the horizon. Several more times she heard suspicious noises, but only glanced in their direction to confirm that the attacker wasn't there. Eventually, the sounds stopped, and uncomfortable silence settled on the area.

Neither of them let their guard down, and the queen got a bad feeling. "He hasn't given up, has he?" she asked doubtfully.

Marth kept his sword out in a defensive position as he said, "He might have given up. We've learned his way of attacking. Or, he's simply pausing to come up with a new strategy. I'm guessing the latter."

Without realizing that he couldn't see her, Elsa nodded. Then she said, "Do you think we should look for the others? We're not doing any good standing her."

Marth nodded. "Perhaps that's his plan. Distract us and keep us separated."

"Then we should—"

Her ally cut her off with a shout as he stepped forward, swinging his sword. Elsa turned around to see him cutting at their attacker, who had appeared near Marth, not nearly close enough to get past his sword. In fact, even the swordsman had to move forward quite a ways to get in range, leaving a sizable gap between him and Elsa before she could react.

Realization dawned on her a second too late. "Wait!" she cried, trying to move back to him, but her attacker was suddenly in front of her, striking first in the face, and then in the knee. Crying out in pain, she stumbled backward, throwing a weak ice attack toward the enemy. The only thing she managed to hit was Marth, and as she collapsed to the ground, all she could think was how fortunate he was that it hadn't been a full blast. Even so, he yelled in surprise, covering his eyes with his arm.

The blood in her knee and cheek pounded violently inside her. Being unused to such intense pain, she found herself unable to focus on anything else, and her defenses completely shattered. Marth was over in less than a moment, trying to protect her, but she was incapacitated.

She vaguely heard scuffling as Marth kept facing different directions, trying to prevent a second attack.

Slowly, the pain started to dissipate, and she opened her eyes. The world was sideways and disorienting, but it was clear that she had to pull herself together. She focused on sitting up; if she could do that, then she might tackle something harder, like thinking clearly.

Pulling herself into a sitting position was easier than she expected, but clearing her head took some concentration.

Looking around, she couldn't see the attacker, but that meant nothing. The sound of Marth turning back and forth still ground on just behind her.

"Elsa!"

In surprise, she turned to three people sprinting towards her.

"Your Highness!"

"Marth!"

She breathed a sigh of relief as the Firelord, Suki, and Eragon drew closer. Marth, however, kept whipping around, not about to get caught unawares. "Stay back!" he shouted. "There's someone here!"

Zuko and Eragon slowed slightly, but Suki kept charging forward. Elsa shouted, "Stop!" but young bodyguard ignored her. Before the queen could do anything else, her and Marth's assailant appeared to Suki's side, already swinging a punch.

What happened next was a blur, but the sickening sound of impact made Elsa flinch. She gasped in horror at what she knew had to have happened, but what she saw didn't make sense in the least. The attacker was stumbling back and clutching his stomach, Suki rounding on him instant. Faster than lightning, she was throwing a kick to his gut, but her foot met nothing.

There was a horrible pause that stretched into unbearable silence. Zuko and Eragon hurried over, the looks on their faces betraying that they were just as stunned as Elsa.

Suki had moved faster than Elsa could even see. The queen now understood how Suki was able to defeat Marth so easily during their accidental confrontation. The four allies still standing made a tight circle around Elsa as she struggled to get up. She felt irrationally embarrassed, now. She had been knocked to the ground, yes, but only after fighting for a long time, protecting Marth. Of course, no one had seen _that_.

Still, she was more than grateful that the others had arrived when they did.

When she made it to her feet, Zuko said, "Okay, let's move. Back to the house."

"But what about—"

Elsa stopped speaking. She had been about to point at the attacker she had captured, but where he had been moments ago, there was only a lot of ice. He had escaped somehow.

"Nevermind," she muttered, moving with the group as they worked their way back the house, watching each other's backs the whole way. Strangely, the attacks seemed to have stopped, although Elsa kept scrutinizing the surroundings for any sign of their foes.

"They must be cowards," Ergagon said as they neared the mansion. "Now that we outnumber them, they've stopped attacking."

"Either that, or they know when it's best to retreat," Marth commented. Elsa noticed that when he said this, Zuko shot him an odd look.

When the house came into view, Elsa could barely believe it. She suddenly realized how unbelievably close she had come to dying. It was only the first day, too. Her hands started to shake and she folded them together in an attempt to hide it. If Suki hadn't shown up…

Elsa shuddered involuntarily but pulled herself together quickly. This was a war of sorts. There was danger involved. She knew this. She just had to be careful, that was all.

Quietly, neatly, and by herself, she pushed her fears and apprehension into a compartment in her brain, then locked it away. She had always been able to deal with most fears. They were simple—easily ignored and overcome. And a few months ago, she'd overcome her greatest challenge, which was her fear of her own powers. Now, fear wasn't something on which she allowed herself to dwell.

By the time the group made it through the front doors of the mansion, Elsa had cleared her head and calmed her nerves. Unfortunately, this made her all the more aware of the pain in her knee and cheek. She was certain a horrible bruise was forming on her face, not that she particularly cared. She reminded herself again that she was in a war. Danger and bruises would be frequent.

The doors shut by themselves the second the group was inside. The queen couldn't help but feel safer inside the walls, despite knowing that her attacker could go through walls. Something about the place just made her more relaxed. Already, the empty rooms and endless hallways seemed familiar and comforting.

Apparently, the others felt the same way, because they stopped moving in a tight nit group, despite still being in danger. Elsa considered commenting, but perhaps the others knew something she didn't.

They entered the meeting hall, where Gandalf, Rosalina, and two others Elsa didn't recognize were standing and waiting for them. Rosalina had a blank expression, but Gandalf was frowning ever so slightly. One of the two newcomers, whom Elsa decided to assume were allies, wore such outrageously green clothing that she did a double take. The man was also wearing a large flowing hat that matched his clothes perfectly in color. The other, more of a boy, really, wore a white tunic and sandals. His brown hair stuck out in all directions, despite being wrapped in a golden laurel.

The five of them stopped in front of Gandalf, shrinking a bit in his stare.

"You disappeared. We have been searching the house for you." He said it not angrily, but as more of a reprisal. He seemed to get a good look at their faces though, and he stopped himself from saying whatever else he had been planning. "What has happened?" he asked, looking at Zuko.

The Firelord's good eye narrowed, but he answered evenly, "We were attacked."

Rosalina put her hand to her mouth. "What?" She gasped, displaying more emotion than Elsa knew she was capable of having. "By whom?"

"The enemy," Zuko muttered, and Elsa couldn't be sure if he was sarcastic or just blunt.

"We missed it?" the brown haired boy exclaimed.

The Firelord turned to him and said, "So did we. Most of it, anyway."

Marth stepped forward and began to explain the situation to Gandalf, the other three who were in the dark listening closely. At some point, Eragon inserted that the vanishing attacker had appeared in front of them, landing several hits on him, Suki, Zuko before leading them on a wild goose chase. Marth nodded, comprehension dawning. "They did it to separate us even further. Then, once they were a long distance away, the attacker found the queen and me. I had already been wounded by a different attacker—"

Elsa started. Turning to Marth, she exclaimed, "Your shoulder! I—I mean, I completely forgot! Oh, no! He needs bandages and… and…"

She stopped when she noticed that she had abandoned her careful, elegant demeanor in favor of panicked rambling. She felt the blood in her cheeks rush to the surface, and to prevent a horrible blush, she lowered the temperature of her face. She hadn't even known that she possessed that ability.

_I should have been doing this anyway,_ she thought, turning around and seeing the staring faces. _It would have prevented swelling._

Eragon coughed in a rough attempt to break the awkward silence. Gandalf was smiling, perfectly capable of cutting into the stillness, but instead preferring to let the others sort it out. It occurred to Elsa that it was his attempt to make the group work through something together.

Finally, Suki spoke up. "Where is the wound?"

"Here on my shoulder."

Feeling the need to say something useful, Elsa said as calmly as she could, "I'll get bandages." It was all she could do to not run out of the room as fast as she could. The moment she was around the corner, she leaned against the wall, sighing. So much stress always enveloped her when she was surrounded by people.

Shaking her head, she went into the closest empty room, asking the house for bandages. Sure enough, lying in the middle of the floor were several long strips of cloth, exactly what she wanted. Gathering the bundle into her arms, she headed back to the others.

When Elsa reentered the room, Suki was chatting with the brunette boy, while the man in green seemed engaged in conversation with Eragon and Marth. Zuko stood next to Suki, glowering as usual, and Gandalf and Rosalina looked over to Elsa expectantly.

Apparently, in the short time she'd been away, introductions had occurred.

Marth turned to her as she approached, and an unfortunate realization dawned on her. She stopped a few feet away from him, holding the bandages awkwardly. She took a breath a said, "I don't have any medical training."

Eragon walked over, saying, "That's fine. I'll do it." He stood in front of Marth, and a look of concentration move across his face. He held his hand out and muttered a few words that sounded like gibberish.

Nothing happened.

"That's not good," he said. "My magic is weak without my dragon; I've barely even slowed the bleeding. Looks like this is going to have to be done the old-fashioned way."

He led Marth out of the room, and Elsa couldn't help but notice that the Hero-King had started to sag from exhaustion. Frowning, she turned around and noticed that Gandalf was moving over to a raised, circular dais that hadn't been there before. He turned and beckoned for the others to follow him.

The seven of them gathered around the rather sizable platform and Gandalf started to speak. "I'll begin explaining the rules of this war the moment King Marth and Lord Eragon return. The news of this attack is troubling indeed."

Elsa had become distracted by what was on the table. There were sixteen circles, each divided into fourths. On one of the circles stood eight white pieces that reminded Elsa of a chess set, but with small differences.

Another circle had quite a few black pieces on it. She wondered if that was where their enemies had gathered. She realized the whole dais was like a convoluted chessboard.

Gandalf glanced at the board and said, "The two assailants are no longer here. We are as safe as we can be. Now—"

He stopped, and shock took over his face. "No!" he cried. "They couldn't have…"

He trailed off, staring at the pieces. After taking a second to compose himself, he said, "The enemy has already struck."

The young brunette spoke up. "Yes. They've been saying that."

The old man shook his head. "But we were being distracted. While Elsa and Marth were under attack, and the rest of us were trying to find them, our foes attacked half our force. It was the weaker half.

He pointed to the circle where the enemy's pieces had gathered. "There were once eight of our warriors there. They were not as powerful as we are, but they would have been vital, nonetheless. Now, there are only two survivors, and they have fled."

He indicated another of the circles, where two small white pieces were separated from the others. "We must rescue them now. I am sure the enemy will be preparing a second assault as we speak." There was no mistaking the urgency in his voice, despite that he kept his tone even and steady.

"How did the enemy move so quickly?" Zuko demanded suddenly.

"It was a risky gambit, but to our misfortune, it worked," Gandalf replied. "I'm sorry. I am to blame. I should have stayed vigilant. But there is no changing the past. We must guide the future."

He turned to Rosalina, who had been letting him do all the talking. She nodded somberly and said, "The Servant gave both Gandalf and me special staves which allow for travel between worlds. The pawns were also gifted two of these staves as well, and have used them to escape the enemy. We must travel to the world on which the pawns have sought refuge. We must find them before the enemy, so only the fastest of us can go."

"I can fly!" the brunette youth said, and Elsa, who thought she was getting used to the impossible, gasped as large wings budded off his back. Shaking her head, she turned to Rosalina. "I can move fairly quickly," she said. Rosalina nodded and said, "That will be enough. We three shall go," before the queen could elaborate. When she said that she could move fast, she was only assuming. She'd never tried it before, but she guessed that she could use her ice to cover distances quickly.

Gandalf pulled a long staff from his belt and handed it to Rosalina. She led Elsa and the youth away from the others.

"I'm Pit, by the way, Your Highness" he said to Elsa. "The others said you were a queen!"

"Yes," she replied, trying to smile. "Elsa of Arrendelle."

"Stay close," Rosalina said. "We must be careful. We may appear a few feet or a few miles from where the pawns are, and the terrain of the world in question is unknown to us. This will be dangerous."

Elsa nodded, but she was surprised to see excitement on Pit's face. She told herself once more that danger was expected and unavoidable. Still, that didn't mean she had to like it.

"What's going on?" she heard Marth say from behind them. Apparently, his wound was all wrapped.

Rosalina raised her staff, and Elsa felt the much too familiar sensation of speeding through nothingness.

**A.N.**

**So.**

**First of all: Sorry for the wait. I know a lot of fanfiction writers only post in their stories about once a month, but let's be honest. My chapters are short; I should be able to crank them out faster than this.**

**Anyway, Pit! He's um… he's excitable, that one. I have plans for him.**

**Also, Link! I wasn't trying to hide his identity; it just never came up in this chapter. So, uh… spoiler… I guess? Not really. I'd planned to reveal him in this chapter anyway, it just didn't really end up happening.**

**I hope my story isn't too convoluted; I kind of feel like that last thousand words at the end move a bit too quickly without enough explanation, but I also don't want Rosalina and Gandalf to turn into nothing but exposition fairies. It's kind of difficult to keep Gandalf in character for some reason; unlike Eragon, Gandalf is someone who's personality I actually care about.**

**For those of you who like Zuko from Avatar: TLA—don't worry. I don't plan on keeping him so unbearably grumpy forever. To me, it just seems in his personality to take a little while to warm up to total strangers.**

**Now, I know it's a little odd to kill off characters that haven't even been introduced yet, but that was what the plot I'm planning called for, so… yeah. The pawns would have all been OCs anyway, so it's not like I just chopped off huge potential for crossover character interaction. Honestly, I had trouble coming up with even eight characters, Eragon being my filler. Although, now that he's here, I kind of like him. He may turn out to be rather important…**

**One of the reviewers suggested Luke Skywalker and Master Chief for the knights, and to them, I apologize. I'd already decided on the roster before writing this. Plus, the **_**Star Wars**_** series takes place in our universe, just really far away… right? So that disqualifies him. (I know that technically Pit lives in Skyloft over Earth, but that can at least be explained away. It would have been harder with a **_**Star Wars**_** character). And as for Master Chief, I've never even played a Halo game *ducks behind titanium barrier to protect from the machine gun fire and rotten tomatoes*, so I would not really do him justice. I suppose you could say the same thing about Marth, but I have played one **_**Fire Emblem **_**game which references him. And I did research on him. And stuff.**

**Anyway… that's about all I have. I'll try and be a little more prompt with chapter four.**

**King Zuko/Suki**

**Queen Elsa**

**Bishop (Mage) Gandalf**

**Bishop (Mage) Rosalina**

**Knight Link**

**Knight Pit**

**Rook (Guardian) Eragon**

**Rook (Guardian) Marth**

**Thanks so much for reading!**


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter Four

The three allies stopped moving quite suddenly. Pit went stumbling forward, the jolt getting the best of him. Much to her surprise and delight, Elsa managed to only sway slightly before righting herself. Rosalina simply slowed to a halt gracefully, not showing loss of control for even a second.

They took a moment to observe their surroundings. A large field spread out before them, nothing but swaying grass cooking in the midday sun as far as the eye could see. Behind them, it continued into the horizon, a few trees barely sticking up into view.

It was a dull, uninteresting place. Elsa had been unconsciously hoping to see something strange and foreign; she was in another world—another reality—after all. The disappointment she felt at the bland landscape was irrational, but she felt it anyway.

Of course, a flat plain in every direction meant finding their allies sooner. It also meant that the enemy could easily find them first. Elsa turned to Rosalina; the woman was already holding her staff in the air, and the tip of it glowed slightly green.

The staff was made of wood, but the end was tipped in some sort of crystalline substance, which was the source of the green light. Rosalina turned in a full circle, holding the staff up and outward. When she finished one rotation, she pointed with the staff to their right. "The pawns are that way," she said. "Unfortunately, they seem to be several miles away."

"Well, let's go!" Pit said. Elsa could only describe his tone as enthusiastic. "We can't let the bad guys get them!" Excitedly, he leapt into the sky, his wings fluttering wildly to keep him airborne. Eventually, he pulled himself into a steady glide, and shot toward the direction Rosalina had indicated.

"Don't you think we should be more careful?" Elsa asked the other woman.

Rosalina simply smiled serenely. "I think he'll be fine." Then, she started floating through the air after the youth.

Elsa blinked. _She's… floating? Then again, why not?_ With a resigned sigh, she realized she needed to keep up with them. She formed a platform of ice beneath her feet, and to her great relief, she found that she could move it with her powers. She brought it up to a decent speed, but she was still a good distance behind the others.

Her platform was digging an unfortunate scar in the field beneath her, but there wasn't much she could do about that.

In the sky in front of her, Pit began to circle around. Rosalina kept moving forward, though, and Elsa felt that she should follow the other woman. Pit kept descending until he was flying just above the ground, and moved over to her.

"You can control ice?" he shouted excitedly over the beating of his wings. "That's really cool!"

"You can fly," Elsa responded, wondering why everyone kept being surprised at _her _powers. Nobody gave Zuko funny looks when he did his firebending.

"Yeah, but that's not as cool!" Pit said. "Rosalina can fly, too."

Elsa glanced up at the woman being discussed and said, "Yes, she can. But you have wings, so that's…" She stopped herself before she said the word "strange". "It's different," she concluded. Pit nodded, but didn't seem any less interested in her abilities.

"Your powers are still cooler," he said, flapping hard and ascending into the sky again.

From her position close to the ground, Elsa had to disagree. Her powers were nice now that she could control them, but after she had spent so many years struggling with them, they didn't really feel worth it all.

They made good time for several minutes, but Rosalina abruptly put her hand up to signal a halt. Elsa's ice skidded to a stop, and she got off as gracefully as she could manage. Pit circled back down to her as Rosalina alighted on the ground.

The grass was now up to Elsa's shoulders, and it made her worry that she couldn't see very far in any direction.

"It's huge!" Pit said when he landed. "Do you think that they're down there?"

Rosalina was holding her staff toward the ground, which struck Elsa as a bad sign. "Yes," she said, "They must be."

"What is it?" Elsa asked.

"A huge canyon!" Pit exclaimed. "I couldn't even see the bottom!"

"Come, we must be cautious now." Rosalina led them forward on foot, now. Pit drew a bow, which was not yet stringed, and jogged until he was even with Rosalina. His eagerness astounded Elsa, but she appreciated that the two people who could fly if they fell were going ahead of her.

She started to notice ahead of them where the grass seemed to break before continuing again endlessly. When they drew closer, she realized that it was the canyon that created the gap. Her companions stopped moving, and the woman said, "We are at the edge."

"Wow," Pit said, leaning forward while Elsa cautiously drew closer. When she finally peered through the grass, at first, she was severely underwhelmed. The "canyon", though quite long, was only about forty feet wide. Then she got a good look at it, and her perspective changed. Pit was right; one couldn't see the bottom. It disappeared into blackness far below, despite that the sun was directly overhead.

Vertigo washed over her, something she had never experienced before. Heights were not one of the things she had ever allowed herself to fear. But the pit below her seemed so endless.

"They're down in that?" she asked, dropping the calm demeanor she usually tried to display. Numerous caves lined the sides of the canyon, and Elsa's stomach sank. They had Rosalina's staff, yes, but it would still take a long time to navigate those caverns.

Rosalina nodded and floated forward, gripping her staff. Elsa started forming a rough spiral staircase of ice, while Pit watched in fascination. Feeling his eyes on her creation, Elsa waved her hand and smoothed it out a bit, ignoring the voice in her head that called the action frivolous.

She began going down the steps, forming more of the stairway as she went. Rosalina floated a ways down the gorge, and Elsa crafted a bridge and followed. Pit flapped around her, the sound of his wings echoing strangely in the otherwise silent ravine.

They descended further into the darkness, Rosalina's staff becoming brighter as the sunlight grew scarcer. Pit was still holding his bow, but Elsa couldn't help but wonder why he hadn't stringed it yet.

Rosalina stopped in front of one of the caves and said, "I believe they are in here, but I am not certain."

"There's only one way to find out," Pit said, moving toward the entrance to the cave. Elsa followed them, hoping that they had found the right one. It would be unpleasant if they had to search all the caves in this area.

Inside, she found herself once again disappointed. It seemed exactly like the caves in the mountains around Arendelle. Rosalina's staff guided them inward, and soon it was their only source of light.

The cave floor was rocky and uneven, so the queen created an ice walkway to keep from stumbling every few seconds. A few of the rock formations cast strange shadows on the walls, but Elsa saw nothing particularly sinister in the caverns.

Unfortunately, she heard something unsettling. A distant roar echoed through the tunnels, bouncing so much that it was hard to identify from which direction it came.

"Did you hear that?" Pit whispered. "Monsters!"

Elsa couldn't tell if it was apprehension or anticipation in his voice.

"I'm sure it's just a wild animal of some kind," the queen tried to say reasonably.

"No, the beasts that live inside caves are always the worst kind of monsters!" Pit argued. "It could be a dragon, or a troll, or a—"

"Young Pit, please be silent," Rosalina warned. "It could be nearby. And we do not want to attract its attention."

Pit looked very much like he wanted to attract the beast's attention. "What if I fly out as a distraction and make a lot of noise! The monster would leave you both alone and—"

"No," Rosalina said with finality. "It is dangerous to go alone. We must stay together. These caves are like a labyrinth. If you became lost, you could be stuck forever. My staff is our only way to return to the outside world."

Elsa turned to her in shock, and then said, in the calmest voice possible, "So that staff is our only hope of getting out of this cave?"

"Yes," Rosalina said bluntly.

"Pit, I think you should protect Rosalina from the monster. Stay by her and make sure nothing touches her."

Rosalina smiled and said, "I don't think it's necessary for him to—"

But the youth jumped to obey Elsa's orders straight away, hovering over Rosalina like she might faint at any moment. "Don't worry!" he said, "I'll keep you safe! No monsters will get through me!"

Elsa smiled. She supposed that she was being manipulative, but it didn't bother her all that much. Two birds were being killed with one stone, after all: Pit no longer was asking to go look for the beast, and Rosalina and the staff were safer under his eagerly watchful eye.

Another roar bounced through the caverns, and Elsa thought that this one sounded slightly louder.

"Don't be afraid! That monster doesn't stand a chance against me!" Elsa began to suspect that Pit was being unnecessarily loud on purpose.

"It's not a monster," she whispered. "It's just a wild animal."

And third roar, quite loud this time, seemed to challenge her statement.

"I hope…" she added, under her breath. "Rosalina, are we close to the others, yet?"

"We are within a few hundred yards. Although, it is still entirely possible for us to be in the wrong cave."

Elsa wished that her companion wouldn't say things like that. Pit was more than enough with his constant babble about monsters.

There was a bright flash, and Pit was swooping out of the air, colliding with Rosalina. A split second later, a torrent of fire ripped through where she had been a moment before. With great sadness Elsa realized that the beast was most definitely a fire-breathing monster, but she didn't have time to dwell on it. Rosalina and Pit landed behind her, meaning she was closest to whatever it was.

Rosalina's staff had flown out of her hands, but it landed safely on the ground a small distance away. Elsa breathed a short sigh of relief.

Another blast of fire came rocketing out of the cave in front of them, and Elsa conjured up a large wall of ice, thick enough to whether the blast. When the flames stopped, she poked her head around to see the creature attacking them, but it was too far away from the dim light of the staff. She glanced to where the stick was lying uselessly on the ground, most of its light blocked by the different rock formations around it.

She took a step toward it, but the monster shot another blast of fire at her, forcing her to duck behind her ice shield and reinforce it. An idea popped into her head and it was so simple she wondered why it wasn't her first response. She summoned up a large wave of her power and created a full wall, separating them from the beast. A muffled roar of indignation reached her through the barrier, but she ignored it and ran for the staff.

Just as she reached it, the sound of a violent impact shook the cavern. She turned in surprise to see the ice cracking. The glow of fire filtered through the barrier, followed by another impact. On the third collision, the beast broke through.

It was like a lion, but it was significantly larger. It had the torso of a man, and its face was a combination of both. It roared loudly enough to shake the room, and Elsa took a step back.

"Pit!" she yelled, terrified of a monster of such strength. "Be a distraction!"

"Right!" he said behind her, taking to the air.

She sent a large spike of ice into the creature's stomach, but it simply bellowed in rage and breathed fire in her direction again. Elsa ducked behind a mass of ice, hoping she hadn't just sent the winged boy to his death. She poked her head around her shield, eyes wide with exhilaration.

Pit was doing fine. He wasn't making much headway damaging the monster, but he moved to quickly for the beast to hurt him. He zipped all around it, firing arrows of light—another thing Elsa hadn't expected—from his bow.

To slow the creature down, she sent large spikes of ice toward it, being careful only to blast it when Pit wasn't close. The monster shrugged off most of what she sent at it, however.

The queen felt a hand on her should and turned to see Rosalina standing calmly behind her. The woman said, "Pit, get away from it!"

Surprisingly, the boy listened, narrowly avoiding a blast of flame that came his way. Rosalina raised her hand upward, and the beast was hoisted off the ground. It hit the roof of the cave with considerable force, sending another tremor through the stone. It landed in a heap, and Rosalina stumbled back, apparently having exerted a great deal of energy.

The monster growled and struggled, trying to right itself. Pit was on it in an instant, hacking away at it with the sharp edges of his bow. While the beast tried to deal with him, Elsa froze it to the cave floor. Pit jumped back as the creature howled, trying to pull itself free. Elsa just kept pulling the ice over it, until its whole body was stuck in a shell several feet thick.

Holding her precious staff close, she hurried to Pit to ensure that he was all right. He brushed her off, saying he was fine. He then went on for a full minute about how amazing Elsa's powers were. Smiling, she turned to Rosalina, who had recovered and now stood ready to move on. Elsa handed her the staff and said, "There may be more of those. We need to hurry."

Rosalina took the lead again, but Pit hung back with Elsa. He looked ridiculously smug, and just before she asked him why, he said, "I told you it was a monster." With that, he leapt into the air, shouting, "Just joking!"

Elsa smiled wider and shook her head. He was a lot to handle, but his upbeat energy was getting sort of infectious. Normally, she would _not_ be smiling after fighting a six-limbed, fire-breathing monstrosity.

Everything went smoothly until several small, dark shapes dropped off the ceiling and began fluttering around them. Elsa ignored them until one landed on her and bit her shoulder. "Ow!" she exclaimed, smacking the vermin off and wondering how such small teeth could be so painful. The bats kept flapping around her, and she couldn't peg them with any blasts of ice.

Rosalina glanced at her and raised her arm. One by one, the bats flew upward, colliding with the ceiling. Disoriented and afraid, the creatures flapped away.

"Everything in this cave hates us," Pit commented.

"We are close," Rosalina said, her pace quickening.

Elsa wondered exactly what the staff did to communicate these things, but Rosalina seemed confident enough.

They kept moving forward until the sound of scuffling reached them. It was coming from behind a large column of rock.

"Hey!" Pit said, running forward. "We're here to rescue you! Come on out from hiding!"

The scuffling stopped abruptly, and Pit moved forward. In a second he had darted around the column. "Come on out!" he said. "Hey, wait! Listen; don't pull a knife on me!"

_Knife? _

In a panic, Elsa rushed around the column herself, but she found the situation had already diffused. The woman holding the weapon had already lowered her arm, and Pit was saying, "See? We're going to get you out of here."

Rosalina appeared behind Elsa, holding the staff expectantly. "You came to find us?" the girl asked, and all three of her rescuers nodded. She put the knife away and turned around. Only then did Elsa see the second figure lying behind the girl. It was a man, and he was apparently unconscious. The girl knelt down next to him and checked his breathing. She was small in stature, and her pinned hair would probably have been brown in proper lighting. In her hands was another staff like the one Rosalina was holding. Elsa couldn't help but notice that the girl's hands were shaking violently.

A distant roar from another monster reached them through the tunnels, and the three rescuers gathered around the girl and her fallen companion. "It will be all right, child," Rosalina said. "You are safe with us."

She raised the staff into the air, and the group sped from one reality to the other.

They landed in the courtyard just outside the mansion. The girl gasped, but her companion simply moaned in discomfort. Pit bent over to pick up the man, but Rosalina said, "Wait, I'll get him." She flicked her wrist, and the body levitated a few feet off the ground.

"Wow," Pit said, "How do you do that?"

But Rosalina had already turned to Elsa and said, "The Servant _did _mention that the staff would be more accurate when one could visualize their destination. We now have another one, as well. That should prove useful."

With that, she took the hand of the girl they had rescued, and together, the group walked to the mansion in silence. At least, there was silence until the doors opened, and Pit ran forward, shouting, "We're back! Guys, we found them!"

As he sprinted ahead, Rosalina asked the girl, "What is your name, child?"

The brunette looked at the older woman vacantly and said, "Vecythia." She looked tired, her eyelids drooping heavily. Well, the one eye Elsa could see was barely open. The one on her right was covered by bangs which had fallen out of the girl's hairpins. The features of her face that showed were soft, her light complexion and blue eyes clashing slightly with her hair.

"And your companion? Do you know his name?"

Vecythia shook her head. "No. We hadn't even met yet. He was the only one I was able to rescue, though. The others were already dead."

Elsa flinched when she spoke that last word. The girl's voice, though quiet, hadn't even faltered as she spoke of six people being murdered.

_No, not murdered. This is war._

Still, Elsa found it disturbing.

Rosalina continued. "I'm sorry; I know these questions must be hard, and I promise they will be over soon. But the man, here… what happened to him?"

Vecythia looked at him for a second, and she seemed lost. "I don't know. He was one of the stronger warriors; he went straight at the leader of the attackers, but something happened. He… well, the leader hurt him somehow. But he's not wounded; I checked almost everywhere."

"We'll do everything we can to help him," Rosalina said, putting her hand on Vecythia's shoulder. "We will." Her voice was confident, but at the same time, gentle. Elsa couldn't help but admire the woman; her presence was so strong when it needed to be, yet so unnoticeable at other times.

The entered the main room, where Pit was giving out the tale of their escapade to anyone who would listen. "And then, this fire-breathing lion-monster attacked us! I dove and shoved Rosalina out of the way, and then—"

At this point, Eragon spoke up. "So let me be clear on one thing; you were in a dark cave, and you got attacked by a monster?"

"Yes," Pit said dismissively, peeved at being interrupted.

At this point the green-garbed man spoke up for the first time. "Why is that surprising? Everyone knows that caves are filled with monsters…"

The hyper youth started to speak again, but Eragon cut him off, laughing. "Yes, in fairy tales and children's stories. But this is the _real _world, and—"

He was interrupted by Suki. "You mean, _a_ real world. There are sixteen, now, apparently."

Pit, however displeased he was at being so consistently interrupted, was still grinning madly at the prospect of being able to tell everyone his adventure, even if it was taking awhile. Even Gandalf seemed fairly at ease, despite noticing the limp body floating in front of Rosalina and shuffling over. Marth stood off to the side, and was watching the group enter the room, ignoring the conversation he had been having with Zuko not a second before. The Firelord looked irate. After a long moment, the Hero-King turned and said what Elsa knew was an apology, because Zuko relaxed ever so slightly.

Vecythia looked a bit overwhelmed at the number of people in the room, and Gandalf seemed to pick up on this before he had even introduced himself. "Come," he said to Rosalina, "Let us go somewhere a little quieter."

The blonde woman nodded, and, started forward, put her hand on Vecythia's shoulder. As the four of them walked together, Rosalina moving the limp body in front of them, Gandalf introduced himself to the girl, and she timidly told him her name.

"How lovely," the old man smiled. The rest of the walk was passed in silence.

Rosalina entered a room on their right—Elsa suspected at random—and sat Vecythia down on the well-placed bed that _happened_ to be there. The queen couldn't help but still be unnerved by the mansion's ability to read minds.

The unconscious man was lowered on the bed next to Vecythia. He had fair features, contrasting to his companion's dark ones. And while the young girl's face constantly bore a worried expression, the man appeared at peace, his brow only slightly furrowed. In fact, he almost looked dead. Elsa watched his chest move for several seconds to make sure that he was still alive.

Gandalf leaned over him, feeling his forehead. The elder muttered a few words, but Elsa couldn't see well what he was doing. Stepping back, Gandalf said, "I don't know what ails him. Vecythia…" His voice grew much softer. "I need you to tell me, if you can, exactly what happened to him. It is imperative for his wellbeing."

The timid girl looked up at her interrogator, and for a second, Elsa thought she wouldn't answer. Then, she began a detailed explanation of everything she knew.

When the enemy attacked, the fair-headed man had gone straight to the leader. Vecythia, however, had been sent to get the staves to help others escape, so she wasn't where the main fighting took place. While she was gone, the enemy had incapacitated the now-unconscious survivor, apparently leaving him for dead. By the time Vecythia had returned, the others were separated from her by the enemy forces, and the only one she could reach was the half-dead man lying to the rear of the fighting.

"I… I didn't even know how to use the staff," she said in a whisper so low Elsa had to lean down to catch it. "I was guessing, mostly. I didn't know where we landed, once we escaped. It was pitch black, and I couldn't see anything. I guessed that I was as safe as I could be from the attackers."

"That is a remarkable story," Gandalf said. "I'm glad to see that you were able to escape alive, my lady." In the silence that followed his words, he turned to Rosalina and Elsa. "I think we should discuss this with Firelord Zuko as soon as possible. But for now, we need to make Vecythia and her friend as comfortable as possible. Let's start by showing her across the hall to another room, and we'll leave him in here."

"Come," Rosalina said with a serene smile. Elsa began to wonder if the woman had ever experienced any other emotion besides total and undisturbed calm. For the queen's part, she turned to Vecythia and smiled as the girl stood and left the room. The peaceful tones of Rosalina's voice drifted through the air as she explained to the newcomer how the mansion's magical properties could be used.

Facing Gandalf, Elsa asked, her voice low, "What do you think happed to him?"

The man frowned. "I cannot say. It was magic, no doubt, but beyond that, my methods fail me. It is unlike anything I have ever encountered, which does not surprise me. We will not solve this mystery any time soon. What we must focus on now are the ramifications of the attack on the pawns. That it happened so early is unusual."

"How do you know?"

Leaning against the wall, Gandalf rubbed his temples. "The Servant explained the rules of this… game to Rosalina and me. He told us that the pawns begin at a different location than the rest of us for a number of reasons, which I won't begin to go over now. However, it is almost unheard of for an opponent to send most of his force to eliminate the pawns; it's too risky, and there are too many factors involved. I was not expecting this; I was unprepared."

He stood upright, taking time to straighten his hat. "Rosalina and I now have the blood of six people on our hands. You are not to blame. I believed we had more time for everyone to learn the rules. Instead, you were forced to help clean up the aftermath of my mistake."

Stunned by his words, Elsa hurriedly cut off whatever he was about to say next. "No, it's not your fault! Not at all. You're being too harsh on yourself, and that's not going to help us win this war. The Servant gave you information, and you believed him. It's no one's fault that this happened!" Of anything in the universe, she knew what it was like to blame yourself.

"I should have realized it, though," he replied sadly. "When we were attacked, I should have immediately realized that it was a distraction. A calculated feint. They sent two that might not be able to kill any of us, but wouldn't be caught no matter how hard we tried. It was a brilliant strategy, unfortunately for us."

"I think we need to get Firelord Zuko right now so the two of us can learn all the rules immediately."

"I agree. Excuse me, Your Highness," Gandalf said, and he exited the room, leaving Elsa alone with the unconscious pawn. She frowned, wondering how she had already begun to think of living people as nothing more than chess pieces. Disturbed, she walked over to the man's bed, trying to remind her brain that he was alive, and not just a puppet.

She studied his face for a good long time, taking in every detail. This only succeeded in making him even less real, his face becoming not a person but a conglomeration of different abstract shapes. She blinked, and tried again, but she was focusing too hard on individual details, and the face itself was lost. _I think there's something wrong with me_, she thought, before a light cough startled her out of her reflections.

In an instant, she had spun around, startled to find Zuko standing in the doorway. Apparently, he had coughed just too politely let her know he was in the room, and she had completely overreacted. _Yes, there is definitely something wrong with me._ She tried to smile liked Rosalina, full of serenity and poise, but it felt like she was grinning stupidly.

"Gandalf came and got me," the Firelord said, breaking the silence. "He told me to come in here." He looked at her, and it clicked in her head that he was expecting a response.

"Oh."

_Brilliant._

She continued, "So where is he now?"

"Speaking with Rosalina," Zuko answered.

"I suppose he will arrive in a moment." The longer she talked, the more she slipped into the formal speech of a monarch.

The man nodded and glanced through the door, turning the scarred side of his face toward the queen. Filled with curiosity, she couldn't help but look at the rough red flesh. It stretched all the way back to his ear, and even his shaggy hair couldn't cover it completely. He turned back to her suddenly and she looked away, feeling guilty, as if she had been caught doing something illegal.

Even without looking, she could see the frown bend the edges of his lips even farther downward. She wondered if she had just crossed an invisible line, invading his privacy. He was probably quite sensitive about such a large blemish, and pointing it out so obviously by staring at it was probably not the most tactful thing to do.

Suddenly, she felt the need to apologize. "I'm sorry; I didn't mean to—"

"It's fine," the firebender replied curtly. A second later, he added. "It's not like I enjoy watching people pretend it's not there." Elsa had expected his voice to be filled with bitterness, but instead, it was merely resignation.

"It was _still_ rude of me," she said. "So I apologize."

"I _still_ say that it's fine. Don't worry about it."

The queen nodded, feeling small and immature. Thankfully, he hadn't acted too offended, so perhaps they would be able to forget about the incident quickly.

Before either of them could think of something else to say, Gandalf reentered the room. Looking from one to the other, he said, "I see I'm not interrupting anything." Elsa turned and saw a twinkle in his eye, but it was quickly replaced with the somber gloom that was beginning to hang over the old man. "It's time to discuss the rules of this war. Rosalina has decided to stay with Vecythia for the time being, so I will tell you everything. Are you ready to begin? We may be here awhile."

"Yes, we're ready," Zuko said. "Go ahead."

"Well, then. There is one rule important above all others: how to win the game."

"Yes," Elsa said. "Don't we just have to capture the enemy king?"

Gandalf shook his head. "No. Not quite. The game ends when both the king and queen of one side are dead, which is why protecting the two of you is our greatest priority."

Unsure of what to say, the queen in question gave her usual response for such circumstances. "Oh."

Immediately, she felt a lot less safe.

**A.N.**

**So.**

**Two months since my last post. Whoops…**

**It wasn't intentional, but I also don't have an excuse, other than… um… let's see… Yeah, I've nothing.**

**Anyway, if you still read this despite my procrastination, thank you! Reviews are appreciated.**

**About the chapter itself:**

**Firstly, the world Elsa, Rosalina, and Pit visit has several hints as to which Reality it is. Some are subtle, some not so much. However, I didn't want to outright say it, because technically, just going to the same universe as one particular planet does not mean that you will end up on that particular planet, so I kind of wanted to leave it open-ended.**

**So, funny story. I wrote the first two-thirds of this chapter a few days after posting Chapter 3, so I had already come up with the name Vecythia and really liked it (I think it's some kind of flower). Well, in the mean time, I played through **_**Fire Emblem: Awakening**_** for the third time, and made my avatar the female, naming her Vecythia. Well, when I dug this chapter up and read over what I had already, my first thought was, "Wait, Vecythia? Did I steal that from **_**Fire Emblem**_**?" I'm rather embarrassed to admit that it took me several minutes to remember that a). I named the avatar in game, and b). I wrote this story first anyway.**

**Still haven't technically revealed the identity of the second knight in-story, but I mentioned last A.N. that it was Link from **_**The Legend of Zelda**_**, specifically either **_**Twilight Princess **_**or post-**_**Majora's Mask**_**; I haven't quite decided yet. I'm not purposefully "hiding" his identity in the story… it just… hasn't come up yet…**

**So, next chapter they'll be learning the rules, strategizing, and possibly executing their plan. I don't have an exact schedule all worked out for chapter pacing, so I don't know how long it will take.**

**King Zuko/Suki**

**Queen Elsa**

**Bishop (Mage) Gandalf**

**Bishop (Mage) Rosalina**

**Knight Link**

**Knight Pit**

**Rook (Guardian) Eragon**

**Rook (Guardian) Marth**

**Pawn Vecythia**

**Pawn Comatose**

**Thanks for reading!**


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